


Chronicles of the Shield: Operation Cerberus

by CrisisExceed



Series: Chronicles of the Shield [3]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Close like Brothers, Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Other wrestlers appearing as minor characters, POV First Person, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 07:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 52,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13853064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrisisExceed/pseuds/CrisisExceed
Summary: Many compared the Hounds of Justice to be like a Cerberus, three minds in control of one unit. They truly had become the heart of special Ops...possibly even the Alliance. When an investigation lead to the surfacing of loose ends, cracks within the shield began to show. United they stood on top of the world, and together they fell in a pit of ruin. From there the only direction was forward.Third in an episodic series.





	1. The Daily Grind

**Author's Note:**

> Thank for everyone that has stuck by me so far. This is the third episode of the _Chronicles of the Shield_ series. For those just giving this series a chance I do suggest checking out _Operation: Origins_ and _Operation: Chimera_ in cast things might not make sense here. 
> 
> With that said we start in Seth's POV...
> 
> Enjoy! :D

We waited patiently for Roman to give us the signal, well I was anyway...patience and Dean Ambrose don't even belong the same sentence. The Atlean and I looked at one another sighing, just what was Roman up to. He had intended on taking on the front of the building allowing us to take point at the roof and make our way down. The intended target was on the thirteenth where they were holding hostages at gunpoint. We were on the stairwell on the between the fourteenth going down to the target floor on this twenty-two story office building. Why did it have to be a skyscraper of all things?

I reached up to my ear piece, _"What are you doing?"_ I asked the older man. I grew tired of his waiting, and I'm sure Dean was as well. He didn't need to say much, but the annoyed look on his face said it all. He hated waiting, and sometimes his impatience made him inadmissible to live with. They knew we were here, since Roman wasn't exactly the quietest person around especially when it came to throwing people around like they were oversized dog toys.

 _"The same exact thing as I was doing five minutes ago, little brother...and if you ask me again five minutes from now what I'm doing, I'm going to be still doing the exact same thing. Are you not enjoying quality time with our lunatic?"_ I rolled my eyes and the chuckle from Roman's end definitely said that he could imagine me doing so. Roman had stormed the front door making it clear that he meant business, while he distracted them at the front Dean and I took out the back and we'd all meet on the floor. "Oh you might want to join Dean by the way." I blinked for a second before turning to my left finally noticing a missing warmth from my left. When did he leave? How did he get by me without me noticing?

Picking up my pace again, I bolted down the staircase to where yellow painted door had been thrown open. I could quickly hear sounds of gunshots and the only thing I could do was hope to myself that Dean was safe. I was supposed to be the one watching his back, and for him to take off the way he did couldn't have been good at all. I came to see that Dean was viciously beating one of the black clad men with Ceadeus, with two more coming around the corner.

I lept for the two men batons in hand and fully extended. One of the ski masked men took the my left one across his jaw, with my intent aiming for dislocation. I dodged as the other came at me with the butt of his rifle, and he ended up with one of my knees in his gut. I slipped down grabbing one of his shoulders to use him as a shield as the other came back up, clearly angered as he tried the same with using the end of his rifle as a deadly weapon only to catch his partner. I shoved the one I used as a shield into the other flipping the switch on my right baton, illuminating it a pale blue and crackling with electricity. I drove that one in the neck of the one I shoved and the one with the dislocated jaw took a knee to the head. Both were on the floor dribbling in an unconscious state.

I caught a whistle behind causing me to nearly jump at Dean. I stopped myself with only centimeters between my baton and his head. With the way his eyes beamed I could tell he was grinning through that mask no doubt with those lady killing dimples on full display. I rolled my eyes at him too, seeing as our end was practically blown. "I swear your impatience, Dean."

"Yeah well waiting for Roman wasn't getting us anywhere, and I'm getting hungry." Another thing I learned about Dean in the last six months was that he was a bottomless pit when it came to his stomach. It was because of that hunger of his was why we were always flat broke. If it wasn't for Roman's cousin, we'd probably still have to be taking up shelter in the Pegasus training facility.

 _"Do you know that you guys have five minutes before we gotta pull the plug? I need a status report anyone? Reigns? Rollins? Ambrose?"_ Since the mission had started Randy had remained radio silent for the most part, but the complete lack of shock or worry in his voice was nothing new and us procrastinating on the final stretch of the mission wasn't anything new either. The Colonel was being equally as playful right now as we were to one another. It just went to show the amount of trust there was between the four of us, all built up in the six months we had been working with Orton.

There was snickering behind me, and over the radio. I suppressed my own trying to remain the level headed one but really my older brothers did make that really hard. Dean and I looked at one another and could tell we were both wearing that same infectious grin behind the mask. This was becoming dangerous once again, and it was fleeting moments like these that always reminded me of that very first day in Astros where we stopped the embezzlers. It always left the question in my mind: What did I do so right to deserve people like Roman and Dean?

 _"I'm coming up to the thirteenth floor now, don't worry Randy, we'll only need two minutes."_ There was yet again a mocking laugh over the comms from all three of us. Dean and I had already cleared out the rest of this floor it was just waiting for the big dog to come around the corner, and speak of the devil and he shall appear. The three of us met half way down the hall where the target door was in question. _"We've reached the door."_

I didn't even need to be in the same room as the Colonel--excuse me he's a Brigadier General now, to know that he was grinning to know we had arrived. He had praised us, and liked 'loose cannon style' as he put it. He often liked to remind us that we were different from the Special Ops teams in the past, and wanted to use us as an example to other up and coming agents about comfortability with your teammates, and it was true. From my observations other teams were not on the levels as we were as far as talking and having a good time. Being the black sheep that we were had it's benefits, in three months after The Shield had been established he had promoted Dean and I to Second Lieutenant, and Roman had been promoted to a full Colonel. He wanted us to have as much freedom and leisure without suspicions of favoritism from his superiors. Randy wanted us to have that so that we didn't let up on the bond we had grown. We don't even introduce one another as teammates anymore, only as brothers.

We waited behind the door waiting for Roman to give the count down. He reached up for that ear piece, _"Release the hounds."_ That was the queue, that had been our queue since we declared ourselves as the Hounds of Justice. We even each added an emblem to our gear to point us out from the other Special Ops unit. All three of us had the patch sewn in on the upper left part. It consisted of a shield, with the words and just blow it was a Cerberus that looked like it was on the prowl. The three headed dog represented who we were. Three minds in control of a single unit, each functioning together. We were the Cerberus, we were Alliance bloodhounds.

Our oldest brother started off the same way he usually did when it was time to make his presence known...with a loud roar before sending the door flying backward off it's hinges. I still don't understand how he was as good as he said when he practically opened up every door with a intense primal-like roar that could rival a lion. But subtlety and Roman Reigns didn't belong in the same sentence either. The raven haired man charged in first quickly picking the door up and using it like a shield to block incoming bullets.

Next was Dean's turn, he was normally on civilian duty since he quickly treat any that were hurt, and with his seeing and hearing he could sense anything that might be a threat to the escaping hostages. He ran in after the bullets had stopped. He began to quickly check and undo the bounds on the anxious civilians with a sharpened arrowhead. Without even looking away from the civilians he jabbed an end of Ceadeus into one of the hostile men that some how managed to get around Roman. Once the black clad terrorist keeled over the last hostage scrambled out of there nearly tripping on her own legs. The middle brother of course the last to slip out to lead them the way down.

And finally, it was my turn. With gun in right hand and stun baton in left I decided on stealth to get the jump. My body now rendered intangible, I slipped in unannounced raising the gun to shoot the one Dean had been dealing with in the shoulder. I ducked to avoid the door that Roman was haphazardly swinging to knock two of the terrorists against the wall, rendering them unconscious. With the last one distracted by the big dog I took my baton that lit up like a bright beacon in the dark room and drove it into the neck of the one still standing. With three unconscious and the last nursing a bullet wound to the shoulder our end was done, they were now for the local law enforcement to deal with. For us it was now making it to the bottom floor to rendezvous with Dean on and our mission was complete.

 _"Hostages safe and sound, I'll be down here bandaging a few up. Do hurry down though, I'm getting pretty hungry."_ Roman and I exited the room looking at one another shrugging. He mentioned that earlier didn't he? It was pretty typical of the Atlean to announce when he wanted sustenance, as his brothers we were pretty sure it was an act for the most part, like his own way of saying "hurry up". Although he was a little more polite about it than usual which meant someone was in his care at the moment. We weren't sure what it was about having patients that put him at such ease.

We tip toed around the unconscious bodies like it was another typical day at the office, which it was (for us I mean, I feel terrible for the poor hard working civilians here). We got to the elevator, just pushing the down button and waited for a few minutes as the ding caught our attentions. So did the man that groaned slowly getting up from the floor. His face got to meet my knee as he slid right back down to the floor of the elevator. Roman decided to help make it less cramped by picking up the corpse and tossing it out the door before they could close on us. I pushed the button to take us to the ground floor lobby where Dean would be waiting for us.

**~~~***~~~**

We made it to the ground floor taking time to step around the law enforcement and out of their way. We were eyed occasionally by the officers but their eyes only beamed in delight, and the occasional thanks thrown our way. I looked down trying to hide my own emotions, it's not often are we thanked for our efforts. It's not that I didn't appreciate their thanks, but really it was just our job.

We the main entrance to finally find Dean who was kneeling at the bottom of the steps with a little girl sitting in front of him, and his mask sitting at the top of his head. He was smiling and ever so often speaking in a very calm and relaxed manner. I felt a hand on my chest when I looked up at Roman who was shaking his head. We just observed the scene from a distance. The first thing I noticed was that the child looked beyond terrified with the way her body was quaking and reaching up occasionally to wipe the tears from her face. Then there was the Atlean who very slowly and as usual carefully was wrapping up the child's elbow. He reached down for a smaller sized sling and slipped it over her head and gently shifted her arm into it adjusting it to her size.

Even after all this time working with him, I'd be used to his instant personality switches but still he amazed me. I watch him pick up the small child cradling her in his arms and taking her over to one of the paramedics standing around. I watched him mutter something to the child which caused her blue eyes to sparkle in happiness. With one last swipe to her face with his thumb he died the last of her tears, before hand her to the paramedic with out stretched arms. He took a moment to have one last goodbye giving her a wave as she reached up her good arm and energetically waved farewell to him with a huge smile on her face.

Finally Roman gave the okay to walk down the steps and meet up with Dean. We both lifted our masks to sit on top of our heads. "You seem pleased with yourself," I told him truthfully. We looked around to see that the civilians and news reporters started to clear out. Finally did we decide to move and head down the street, at this point procrastinating around was something we did rather than just call for an extraction. Orton didn't seem to mind so as long as he knows the mission was complete. "Leviathan seems to be acting up more and more lately."

Roman placed a hand on his chin to think. He's dealt with them before, so maybe he might be able to shed some light on this whole situation. Lately, in the last month our missions have been to clear out another Leviathan hold out. They are somehow scrambled all across the city, and it's been this way since Lorken's detainment. I didn't want to think the two were related but, there was that chance since Mizanin was also working with them at the time as well. "Probably using the recent media attention as a means to get heard. But these have been small groups lately. Their attacks seem to have no real direction lately other than just a public place. The Colonel-"

"Brigadier General." corrected Dean wearing a typical smug smile.

The raven haired man just chuckled at his correction, "The Brigadier General, has been looking into this. But he can't quite pinpoint a motive. The attacks are so sporadic no real direction. Until investigations get to the bottom of this, the only thing we can do is stop the attacks. Our duty is to the people first. Isn't that right Second Lieutenant Ambrose?"

Dean looked away looking annoyed, which only caused the playful grin on Roman's face to grow wider. He knew the Atlean hated to have his rank thrown in his face, because it was a constant reminder that he was an Alliance soldier. "I'm a medic, of course I'm dedicated to the people. Isn't that why I'm civilian duty?" We continued walking down the blocked off street until we reached the very end where a helicopter was waiting for us. I finally gave the first yawn of the night signifying that I was exhausted.

**~~~***~~~**

This had become a daily routine for us. Once sometimes twice a week in the last six months there was some sort of small investigation or attack on the city that needed to be quelled. We accepted every mission with no complains, and completed every single one with no botches. We began earning the praises of our superiors, and calling us the heart of Special Ops. We tried to think not much of it, and thought we were just being good soldiers. With no one breathing down our throats we had hoped that eventually one of our missions would give us a lead on the missing test subject that destroyed Ursa Minor.

The helicopter as usual dropped us off at clearing on the south end of Cassiopeia. From here we hiked up the small hill where our current lodging was. We came to a large white mansion brightly lit up against the chilling night time late autumn air (we probably should start considering gear with long sleeves). As usual we hopped the small wall to get in from the sliding glass back door. The noises of the helicopter taking off was our signal that our activities for the night had come to a close. It was finally time to relax.

The mansion that served as our current housing belonged to Roman's older cousin who was hardly ever home, so he let us use it. It had the same white walls as the outside, and finely polished light colored hardwood flooring. It was so spacious it had good acoustics that often times Dean forgot about, even though we had been living here for four months he wasn't used to living in such a large home. The kitchen and the living room were one room separated by a long breakfast bar, with every counter top and cabinets complimented by fine dark cherry wood polished to perfection.

Roman's cousin was hardly ever home, since we started living here we may have met him maybe four times and only for a couple of days. He was quite fond of us, and treated us like family. He had a very comforting smile, and when he was here he insisted on cooking for us. His mannerisms and sense of humor matched that of his cousins and they acted a lot like brothers. I could tell that the big dog and his cousin Dwayne were quite close. I began to wonder if he was like that with the rest of his family.

Before running up the stairs to change into something more comfortable I heard a loud grunt that snapped my attentions back to my brothers. I caught myself from laughing out loud when I saw Roman standing there eye twitching as he stared down the pile of papers and books Dean left on the dining table. Most of the time when we weren't out on a mission or exercising he was sitting with a book in hand and piles of research papers. He often didn't clean up when he was done, most of the time we'd catch him in the morning using the same pile of papers as a pillow. This was pretty common, Roman was quite a neat person where Dean seemingly didn't care where he left his mess.

As our big brother began his lecture about not turning his cousin's house into complete shambles, that laugh I was holding back came out. The two turned their attentions to me and I knew that meant trouble. I tried to bolt for the stairs but was quickly caught and tackled to the ground by the two larger men. I struggled to throw the mass of weight off me but to no avail, but that didn't keep me from squirming.

With enough shifting and jostling around, I managed to slip out from underneath and it was now Dean and I pinning our older brother down, but of course that's impossible. He flips both of us with one arm each now being the one pinning us down. Now Dean and I had to work together. Nodding at one another, we each grabbed an arm and slipped out from underneath him. Still holding one of Roman's arms each we shifted to wrench his arms behind his back pinning him stomach first to the floor. The wide open spaced room echoed in a fit of boisterous laughter and the rough housing of three grown men acting like teenagers.

The wrestling on the ground continued until we were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat entering from the foyer of the mansion. He looked like he was getting a laugh himself seeing us roll around on the ground like children. He was always quite an intimidating presence. He was larger than Roman in both height and muscle mass, and had a similar tribal tattoo like the big dog's that covered his bicep on his left arm and the tattoo of a bull head on the opposite. Both were on display, peaking out from under his tight back shirt, after hanging his thick jacket in the closet by the front door. He had a heart warming smile as his brown eyes scanned the room.

"Well at least nothing is broken," he said holding out an arm to help us up. I took a hand of his hand first as he was able to help me up like I was a feather to him. I've known Roman to do that too, but I always thought it was because of his super strength, Dwayne was just a naturally strong person as well. Eventually all three of us were hoisted off the floor.

"What's up, Uce?" exclaimed Roman giving his older cousin a hug. None of us had expected him home, since he was normally out all the time. None of us really knew what he did other than that he was famous, his likeness often featured on magazines and other media especially here in Cassiopeia and Astros.

Of course I was not without my manners, "Welcome home, Dwayne." I greeted him with a small bow of my head. I couldn't quite get over my old habits of how I was raised. Especially since I was a guest in this home. He raised an eyebrow at me, I don't quite he was used to my mannerisms but he appreciated them nonetheless.

His charming smile never seemed to fade as he started acting like our older brother. "Seeing as you guys have yet to change out of your gear, I'm assuming you guys just got back as well." He made his way to the kitchen and with no room to argue started just pulling things from the fridge and the pantry. I frown a bit since he beat me to cooking dinner. "Do whatever it is you guys do to relax." I often that thought that Dwayne spoiled us just a little, but he liked to remind us that as long as Dean and I were Roman's brothers he'd treat us like family as well. He was a good man, and hoped one day I could repay him.

"Dean your research." said the raven haired man as he pointed to the pile of papers still remaining on the glass top dining table. The middle man frowned like a child before collecting his papers and books and headed up the stairs to his own room. The sounds of showers and heavy footsteps began to echo throughout the large abode, as each of us had our own ways of unwinding and relaxing especially after a mission.

I had a small safe kept in my quarters for my gear since they were one of a kind and I don't think I'll ever be able to get anything like it ever again, so I did my best to take care of it. Despite how it was a constant reminder of the events of the training facility, I didn't want to count out that my gear was a miracle to have. I also kept my dogtags in there since it too was quite an important piece to me. It not only reminded me of who I was today, but I had hand etched on the back of one of them the day we declared ourselves as brothers. As I folded up my gear neatly I eyed the red journal on my desk. It hadn't moved from it's spot since we started living here, nor have I opened it up since our first mission. I locked up my gear in that small safe and changed into something more comfortable.

**~~~***~~~**

We sat around the glass dining table enjoying the meal that Dwayne was so kind enough to cook for us. I was fading in and out of conversations as Roman talked about family with his cousin and Dean was trying to talk my ear off about some new medical procedure some doctors back in Atlas just started practicing. I really didn't understand most of the stuff he was trying to tell me so I just sat there and enjoyed the atmosphere, until the oldest man caught our attentions.

"Since I got all three of you here, I thought I might be able to let you guys know something. I've been asked to hold a dinner party here in honor of the new Prime Minister." The three of us looked at him with blank stares and jaws hung open. I think I needed to hear that one more time because I think my heart had just skipped a beat. I felt like there was more to this, before Roman ended up speaking up.

"If we're not out on a mission, we can clear out for the night if that's what you're asking." he told his other cousin with a smile. I really had hoped that was the case too. I wasn't new to the concept of dinner parties. I grew up a noble in Wyndmere and it was the most formal way we knew how to socialize and meet one another personally. I never really did like them though, Mereian nobles are very stuck up compared to the wealthy people in the Alliance.

Much to my dismay though, Dwayne slowly shook his head. I felt like whatever he had to say I don't think any of us were going to like. "There's a reason why it's being held here, Roman. She wants to meet you and your team, also a lot of the family is going to be here too." Those gray eyes of our older brother looked very disgruntled. Other than Dwayne we've not met any of Roman's relatives and since we started teaming together there were hardly days we were even apart. I looked over at Dean who also looked a little shocked. I'm pretty sure he knew nothing about formalities and probably didn't want to be surrounded by so many people.

It seemed like Roman was cornered, from how he spoke family meant everything to him. I knew that look in those gray eyes. Confliction. He was conflicted on telling his cousin that it might be a bad idea, but also not letting down his family. Slowly he nodded his head, we owed his cousin so much and I felt like this might be small for what he's done for us. Dwayne turned his attentions to both Dean and I, we had no choice. It was going to be an uncomfortable experience, but the oldest man probably wouldn't be forcing us into something we didn't want. I was meant to be hidden though, not seen in the public eye and here I was agreeing to meet a bunch of people I don't know.

My mind already started playing every scenario that could go wrong. What if we make the prime minister crossed? What if we're not what Roman's family are expecting? I felt like disaster was just reeling to be started. Also, we really didn't own anything formal enough to wear anything at a dinner party except maybe our military uniforms. My dark thoughts seem to just be seething.

**~~~***~~~**

I watched as Sasha happily placed our breakfasts down in front of us. It was a slow morning for the girls, as seeing that tourist season was over with early winter just around the corner. When asked the girls didn't seem to mind either, it was a chance for them to recharge their batteries, restock, and devote more of their time to the locals that came in like us. I sat there quietly just listening to the conversations. Becky and Bayley seemed to be interested on whatever Dean had to say, or they were just addicted to that charming smile and Roman seemed to be enjoying Charlotte and Sasha. I didn't feel left out, but I wasn't much in the mood to talk.

When we gathered like this with anyone, there was always one of us that wasn't in the mood, but the other two didn't seem to mind to pick up after the last. This was our daily routine after all. It was rare to get all three of us talking, the girls and even Dean and Roman knew not to push the third. He'd talk when he was ready to speak. I just sat looking out the window sipping my coffee watching the sun shimmer on the ocean. Even this close to winter the sight was as beautiful as ever just like how it looked in the spring when we arrived. I used it as a distraction as I kept having to tell myself attending this dinner party was small to what we owed Dwayne really. But meeting the new Prime Minister is what had me in all kinds of knots.

While I was focused on the ocean I didn't even notice that Bayley had come back with another cup of coffee for me, "Just the way you like it, Seth." she happily smiled before returning her attentions back to Dean. I took a sip and cracked a smile, these girls did know us too well. The small tang of cinnamon well blended with cream but not overpowering to where you couldn't taste the bitter drink. It was a recipe I taught her when we first started lodging here in Cassiopeia, brought over from one of my few fond memories in Wyndmere. It was served in every inn in every town across the small providence. A tiny piece of my culture to share with the girls, like my own hand extended in friendship. She said the recipe had become popular with almost all the regulars. It was enough to get me to concentrate on the the scenery and away from the ongoings.

**~~~***~~~**

_I couldn't have been older than sixteen when the first guests for the party arrived. Just as I was told I was supposed to greet any and all that walked past the foyer, and was told to do my best to remember their names. Although later on in the night there were so many people I couldn't remember everything. None of the guests seemed to be offended, since it was my first time actually participating in one of my parent's events. Most of the guests liked to remind me that I was beginning to look more and more like my father. I smiled through it all, but deep down I just wanted to be somewhere else. That hollow feeling was something I could never forget. Any chance I got I slipped away to have a few minutes to myself, before making it back like nothing had happened._

_One of the times I slipped away, my mother had noticed at the time. She caught me on the balcony on the second level that looked out over the trees down the hill with the mountains sitting behind them illuminated by the silver moon. Her gentle hand came down on my shoulder, I turned my attentions to her slowly giving her a shy smile. She was wearing a long flowing elegant dark blue dress that well complemented her bright blond hair. She knew I was tense, and that I was not enjoying the company._

_She always knew when there was something in my mind, she'd always tell me there was a twitch on my lips when ever something was bothering me, and that same twitch never changed as my brothers now tells me the same thing. She simply smiled at me, knowing that my mind was in absolute distress. She knew every way to calm me down, it had been this way since I had started studying the journal. "Tell me what is bothering you." she asked very calmly and gently._

_My lips thinned thinking on what to tell her. I didn't want to lie, she was my mother. "I don't understand why I need to remember who most of these people are. As soon as I complete father's task most of them are going to run for the hills." I leaned over the railing letting the cool night air hit my face drying the sweat that had collected on my brow. "Maybe I just don't understand any of this. Why don't we just join the Alliance?"_

_My mother stood behind me placing both her hands on my shoulders her long fingers massaging them gently trying to get me to relax. She leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on my hair as if she was trying to tell me everything was going to be alright, back then there was a chance she was right. All I wanted was for her to be right at the time. "This is all about moving forward, Colby. That's why you must take care of this, to show the next generation...your generation that you're not going to back down. You and I have talked about this before, the world is ready to consume us. As for the men down there,.they will run for the hills, let them...they won't survive the wolves." her last words seemed cold. It seemed she cared for them as much as I did. She knew that our riches were a veil._

_I took a deep breath, the bone chilling tone that she had taken when she spoke. "Have you ever killed anyone, like father has?"_

_I was surprised when she shook her head no, but she was still well aware of what he did. "Before you were born, I used to help your father set up his kills. I was very good at covering my tracks which is something I'll help you learn to do as well. Come back downstairs when you're ready, we have to wish the guests a good night." I watched her walk away leaving me with my thoughts on the side. That was one of the last moments I shared with her. One of my fondest memories of my beautiful mother._

**~~~***~~~**

This whole idea of a dinner party was beginning to bring back many old memories I thought I had locked away, and even the coffee reminded me of them. Most of my fondest memories of Wyndmere were of my mother. Although it was my father was the one who had taught me to fight it was my mother who taught me stealth. I let out a sigh taking the last sips of my coffee, only to look up and see that everyone had been staring at me.

I gave them all a blank stare back as I put my cup down slowly. What were they all looking at? Did I miss something while I was turned out of their conversations. I picked up my fork finishing the last of my breakfast as they sat there saying nothing waiting for me to say something. "What?"

Charlotte was the first to speak, "Seth you need to dress these boys up. They seem hopeless." She had a mischievous smile on her face, while I was tuned out it seemed like they were wanting me to find a good look for Roman and Dean. It sounded like they didn't have anything dinner party worthy and it figures wearing our uniforms was out of the question.

Then again they weren't wrong either. I seemed to be the only one of the three of us with some sense of a fashion sense. Dean always wore plain shirts and jeans, while Roman tended to wear anything that clung to his figure. Now that I thought about it they really were hopeless. Who was I kidding though, we're flat broke, I mostly blame our middle brother's seemingly never ending hunger. "No money," I replied. Roman and Dean merely hung their heads at it, and just as the older brother opened his mouth to speak, "We're not borrowing from your cousin. That's not right at all and you know it." What an odd world we lived in that the youngest was the most sensible, but I guess that's why they called me "The Architect".

This was certainly an odd state of affairs we were in, but we wouldn't be The Shield without some sort of dilemma on our hands. It was all apart of our daily grind.


	2. Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For such a simple and short word...the meaning was mundane as it got.

The dinner party was about exciting as I thought it was going to be, for us anyway. It was awkward and uncomfortable we just looked like we didn't belong at all. Not even the presence of the girls made it any better. I was on and off conversations with Sasha and Charlotte trying to avoid meeting anyone really. The new Prime Minister had yet to show up, even though the party was in her honor. The guests mostly just stood about talking about meaningless things like new business practices and just the latest news highlights. This was only the beginning of a long night.

Throughout the week I looked into just who was this new Prime Minister. From what I understand, they were elected every six to eight years, and the circumstances to her election was unusual to say the least. The old Prime Minister had a sudden health issue, that grew concern and eventually hospitalized him, forcing him into retirement. An emergency campaign was held and through the course of five months she was elected over four other candidates. From what I understood she had the wherewithal compared to the others due to her long and quite prestigious military background. After she retired from the military, she decided to become an actress, and she was a rather good one too. She had played numerous roles as an action heroine, and definitely knew how to grab a hold of your heart in a drama (Dwayne may have forced us to watch a few of her movies).

Everyone looked to be enjoying themselves, with the exception of Dean and I. We both felt completely out of place, even straight down to our attire. We both settled on all black suits complete with black dress shirts and dark colored ties, whereas our older brother decided on a gray suit with a white dress shirt. Although we told Dwayne we didn't feel right asking him to help us out, he insisted that we let him. I feel like he might be too nice for his own good, but it certainly did reflect that he and Roman were related.

I stood in the corner just swirling the deep red liquid in my glass. It had been a while since I had any means of a fancy drink, but I guess I could get away with it for tonight since the occasion called for it. It was only my second glass of wine that I had been nursing through the night, and before the first glass I had made sure to snack on plenty of hors d'oeuvres since the beginning of the party. I probably shouldn't have been drinking at all, since we were supposed to be on high alert and could get called for a mission at any given moment. I probably wouldn't have either if I didn't see Roman walking about with a beer in hand moments ago.

I watched him interact with his cousins. They were laughing and chatting away about something. Being in the secluded corner that I was in I couldn't hear what they were talking about but I couldn't say it didn't make me happy to see that our older brother was enjoying himself. My eyes wandered away from our older brother and his cousins to where the middleman stood in the middle of the crowd looking largely uncomfortable.

It was hard to miss someone of his tall frame, and matching rugged look, though he did have the decency to shave. The look in his eye said that he was listening intently to whom it was that was talking to him. With the way she looked she had dark brown hair, and bright blue eyes similar to his own, made me think she was probably Atlean too. He seemed to be holding a small crack of a smile, which meant that they were probably going on about medicine, the only topic Dean seems to smile at. Once he was done talking to her and she walked away, he had gone back to brooding and trying to bring himself away from the crowd.

Neither one of us knew these people, and the only people Roman knew was his family. Most of the crisp garments the guests wore had some sort flourish and glamour, quite extravagant to say the least. I felt out of place myself, but I dealt with it by staying in my corner sipping the glass of the deep red wine I was nursing. I was still quite bothered that the Prime Minister had yet to show. Something wasn't right, and I hoped that was the alcohol talking. I watched Dean make his way towards me, trying his best to not look intimidated by the crowd.

"If I'm being forced to mingle, I think you should too," said the Atlean with a usual cocky grin. He looked around at the crowd. "Man we are completely out of place," he continued trying to ease the mood between the two of us. At least one of us was trying, I'd rather just stay in my little corner away from everyone. His eyes wandered over to Roman as mine found my gaze looking over at him as well. He was still roughly in the same spot still talking to his twin cousins, Jimmy and Jey I think he introduced them as. I noticed periodically he'd take a glance back at us, frowning a little before turning his attentions back to his cousins. "At least one of us can have a good time. One out of three ain't bad, right?" Dean forced a chuckle, shooting a smile back in the direction of our older brother.

I forced a small laugh myself to go along with his, it was weak and quite pathetic. At least someone felt exactly the same way though, so at least I wasn't on the boat alone. I opened my mouth to want to say something to Dean, but I couldn't quite muster any words that'd ease the growing tension in the air between us. It wasn't that we were being tense towards one another it was the whole atmosphere in general, and the constant question in the air being why the new Prime Minister wanted to meet us in particular.

Was it because our ongoings as of late? We had been the ones pretty forward about being the first to stop most of the Leviathan attacks, but that couldn't be all could it? She had quite the background, and our efforts seemed quite minimal compared to hers. I let out an exasperated sigh, all these questions just made me want to meet her more, just so we could get this over with. "I know that sigh," said the Atlean beside me speaking up once more. Never does Dean shy away from letting his own thoughts be heard, something I still envy.

"Do you want a medal or something?" I piped up sarcastically. I never really had the gall to speak like this to Roman, but for some reason Dean has this way of bring out the worst in people for better or worse. As for our middle brother, he seems to have this habit of trying to get under people's skin. He'll push every button on a person with such force, and without warning but it makes him an incredible interrogator. He's the only reason why we've gotten any information out of Mizanin since his capture.

"Now you're really worrying me, Seth." I knew what he mant too, I normally wasn't snappy towards my brothers and when I was it usually was a sign of unease from me. Dean reached up to place a comforting hand on my shoulder and just held it there rubbing light circles. He and Roman both knew that the gesture was a good way to calm my unending nerves. I let out another sigh, but this time a little more relaxed than the one before. It was that caring nature that always seemed to get to me, so I just let my shoulders slump and accept the pampering my older brother was willing to give. Once he saw the tension in my being ease up he gave a small smile. "Feel better?"

I nodded slowly in response. My eyes drifted over to Roman who was suddenly talking on his cell phone in his own secluded corner. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I definitely saw concern in his gray orbs. I nudged Dean to get his attention and pointed over to our older brother, and it's not like we've not spied on one another's conversations before, but I really just didn't like the look that he was holding. Luckily this was so routine that the Atlean knew exactly what I was pointing out without words needing to be exchanged. He turned his head with the side of it facing Roman and brows furrowed in concentration.

I watched as Roman hung up the phone looking frustrated. He looked over at us noticing that we were listening in and gestured for us to walk over. It was like he wanted us to hear his conversation. Slowly we made our way over to our wayward brother taking one last moment to look around hoping no one else was listening in. "You heard everything Dean?" he asked once we were out of the eyes of the guests. The Atlean nodded in response, to let Roman continue. "Then we got to leave now. We're headed out for Ursa Minor, I'll give you the run down in the helicopter."

I'm not sure if this was a blessing or a curse. On one hand was us getting out of this awkward situation where none of us belonged, and on the other my gut told me that this was the reason why The Prime Minister had yet to show. Seeing us gathered away from the people, Dwayne approached us with a concerned look in his eyes. "Is everything okay? That phone call seemed pretty urgent."

Roman let out a deep sigh taking a brief moment to look over Dwayne's shoulder at his family. "That was Brigadier General Orton. We need to go, it's an emergency." The big dog shook his head, "I can't give anymore details than that."

Dwayne himself look around the party as the guests started to look pretty restless. They were more than likely irritated that the guest of honor had still yet to make her appearance and it was starting to become later into the night. It was only a matter of time before these people had begun to file out anyway, which probably why he was so concerned. He was the host of the party after all, "What about the Prime Minister?" Roman remained silent and looked down lips thinning. Instantly, Dwayne sensed and put together what exactly was going on. "Oh…" he started. "That explains why she's not here then. I'll make sure everyone at least leaves happy then. You guys go, bring her back safe."

It was a relief that Roman's cousin was giving us his blessing to leave. It seemed rude to up and leave like this but I'm sure the guests knew the life of a soldier, to be called away at any moment. That seemed to go extra if you were apart of Special Ops like we were. With that sense of urgency we each raced upstairs to our own bedrooms gathering our tactical gear and making our way out the back door. We hopped the wall, and made our way up the hill to our pick up spot. I can only hope the Prime Minister was safe, and it seemed like it was going to be up to us to make sure she came back that way.

**~~~***~~~**

The rush of the night air picked up as our pick up began to descend, flailing my hair around. According to Roman, any aircraft that was seen on Paragon was owned by the Alliance. The other provinces either didn't have the technology, or didn't have desire because there wasn't a need for them. The skies practically belonged to the Alliance's military. There wasn't even aircraft for civilian use, even after all this time it was terrifying just how much in control the Alliance truly was, having allies had it's advantages.

The door of the helicopter slid open to reveal the Orton on board. He waved for us to get in watching us rapidly scramble to get on board. Once we were secure he slammed the door shut the the aircraft taking off towards our destination. "Sorry for the short notice, boys." said Orton sounding out of breath. Why is it he was always winded when he met with us. Makes me wonder just how urgent this mission actually was. I swallowed the lump in my throat, as I secured the headset around my ears. "Someone's hijacked the Prime Minister's limousine, we have reason to believe they're headed for the ruins of Ursa Minor."

I looked over at Roman who instantly tensed up at the news. I can't imagine how he was going to react to being there. Even after seven months he still feels guilty for what happened at the suburban town. He refused to look at any pictures, look into any news reports, he didn't want to see the devastation. Slowly he took deep breaths, the thought of now having to be in the middle of that carnage probably terrified him, "I know this isn't ideal, Roman but I can't think of any other team that could pull this off. You've got the most experience with dealing with Leviathan. Investigate Ursa Minor, and bring back the Prime Minister. "

"Thanks, Randy," said Roman quietly rolling his shoulders. He probably wasn't sure what was going to happen when we landed. He looked around noticing the crate that sat behind the two of us. He reached behind us opening the gray crate, polished short ranged rifle. Both the butt and the grip was made of the darkest the most beautifully finished wood I've ever seen. I looked on the side, and noticed the engravings on the grip in gold cursive letters.

_Valor_

What could he mean with that engraving? Perhaps it was his own means of going forward. It did reflect who he was. Roman was courageous, he lead the charge always, he was always the one man army that went in first and that takes a heart of valor to be able to do so.

Dean and I also reached into the crate finding ammo, arrows, and other supplies we might need. I noticed Dean ended up pulling out a small black backpack stuffing it full of antiseptics, bandages, and other various objects a field medic like him could use. Seeing my brothers prepare themselves for anything, I decided the same and I couldn't help but notice something else in there Orton look like he had prepared. A long kevlar sheath with a slightly curved body and a black polished T shaped hilt with a padded grip coming out the end secured only by a loose fasten. If I didn't know any better I'd think Orton brought this for me, since I was the most proficient of the three of us with close combat weaponry. I pulled out the still sheathed blade adjusting the strap to fit over my head and across my back.

"Like what you see, Seth?" asked Orton with still a stern look on his face. "I gathered whatever I could that you guys might need. I want you prepared for anything. No military personnel has seen this place or has reports since it was declared as 'zero'." I watched as once again Roman's posture seemed to stiffen at hearing that. I was honestly confused, but something told me that didn't sound good at all.

"Zero?" questioned Dean who looked at Orton brows furrowed in confusion. I was assuming the Brigadier General was using military terms that the big dog had yet to catch us up to speed on. But it also looks like this was news for our older brother.

"When an area is declared as 'zero' it means there is nothing left. Since the incident we've been searching for survivors. Where there have been some, we've not found anymore. Bristol had the place declared it barren after two months, and the next it became officially zero." I couldn't help but notice Randy's voice had dropped as he was explaining the concept, I can't imagine how hard it was to give such a term to a once bustling place. I looked over at my brothers they too shared the same melancholy look. "It also means all military and government personnel have abandoned the place. It's why they're sending in Special Ops. Once you guys are there, you'll have no back up. It's why I want the best team out on that field. Take care of each other." Although Orton didn't need to tell us that last part, we always did, but I think it was more of an assurance for himself if anything.

The helicopter rise was beyond intense. If our older brother needed to carry a weapon, you knew it was going to be a dangerous mission. In the time we've been together I've only seen Roman carry a firearm twice, normally he was just initiator, and someone for the enemies to keep their eye on while Dean and I hit them from behind. I made sure that my mask was secured to my face and the blade to my back.

I had no idea what we were going to be in for. None of us had seen pictures of the place since it's destruction now we were going to be in the middle of the carnage. There were no efforts for clean up, it was just as Orton has said, this place had . I wasn't sure what to be prepared for, I just knew deep down I wasn't going to like it...I don't think any of us were going to. I caught a glimpse of the outside through the small window, the gray skies were already setting a bleak mood. I looked at Dean and Roman to see what had been going through their minds. They both looked quite expressionless, almost bracing themselves on what to expect.

Once the door to the helicopter had been slid open we were hesitant to step out. I took a deep breath to be the first one. Slowly climbing out the first thing I had noticed was the hazy gray sky and the black debris that had littered the street. There was not a building in sight that wasn't damaged in some way. The devastation that surrounded us was grim, there wasn't a piece of rubble that could be seen that wasn't at some point still smoldering or was at some point. There was only ash and shattered glass as far as I could see. I couldn't contain it anymore, I finally ripped the mask off my face and my stomach let loose it's containments. I was too busy to even noticed that my brothers had made their way out and Orton slamming the door shut. We were truly on our own for this mission.

"This is even worse than I had imagined," spoke up Roman after an elongated silence. After a bit of comforting from Dean I finally was able to regain my composure and secure the mask back to my face giving my full attentions to our older brother. "I don't even understand why Leviathan would come here. Unless they're using it for an outpost, it'd be quite a tactical advantage for them. With all the attacks lately it'd seem like a terrible idea to label this place as zero especially as it still close to Ursa Major." I just listened intently as our older brother gave a frustrated sigh.

"Can we at least get out from the open like this?" asked Dean making sure his voice was heard, and he had a point. We had yet to move and the helicopter had long taken off. It'd be awhile before we got back into contact with Orton since he had to give us a quick breakdown of the mission on such short notice. I watched as the middle brother looked around eventually stopping to point out a somewhat intact building up the road. "Lets take shelter up there," giving his suggestions. We let him take point to lead the way, he'd be able to be the first warn us if anything was nearby. I watched as Dean had arrow at the ready while Roman had his rifle out. I had guns at the ready following in suit.

**~~~***~~~**

I was still terrified of what we might run into. There wasn't even a sound in the sky, it was so eerie, it was blank. The devastation was devoid of life, not even buzzards to pick at the remains. I had never seen a place to empty. The only thing I could hear was the sounds of our footsteps hitting the broken up pavement of the street. It made me think, on what intel did Orton have to say for sure that the hijackers were on their way here. It had been bothering me since we had stepped foot on the helicopter.

It didn't take long, but we had finally made it to the house that Dean had pointed out. It was unlike the middle brother to be silent for this long. I wanted to ask him what had him to rattled but seeing what was around us, I'm sure this was a lot for him to take in even more than it was for Roman and I.

The door to the house some how managed to stay on his hinges, but the once light blue painted suburban home was now in ruins, and it's once glossy finish was now nearly all washed away and charred in several spots. But even the destroyed state this house was in still looked better than some of the others around the area. We pushed the door open listening to it's creaking sound echo around the empty home. Carefully we made our way through boots crushing the broken glass beneath our feet. We looked at one another not stepping any further past the foyer.

Dean carefully slipped an arrow between his fingers getting it ready to pull the string back at any moment. "Hello?" he called out letting his voice echo through the halls. "We're with the Alliance military, if there's anyone here please respond." The three of us stood there, silently...patiently waiting and being somewhat hopeful for a response. The middle brother suddenly held his hand out signaling for us. "I think someone might be here, Roman keep guard up here, I'm going to check the basement, Seth check upstairs." I watched as Dean flipped the switch on his bow changing it back to it's staff form. I watched him dash off and disappear into another area of the house.

I watched as our older brother started exploring the what was left of the living room floor, so I made my way up the stairs which thankfully was all still in one piece. Slowly I took each step trying to make as little sound as possible, the steps however weren't making it easy as each one made a very slight creaking sound as I ventured upwards.

If it wasn't for my mask I'd be choking on dust for sure up here. The first thing I noticed was there was a massive hole in the roof just above the loft. I looked over the edge, being careful not to lean on it not knowing the structural integrity of the railing, and saw that there was a small chandelier that that fallen near the foyer. That explained why there was glass scattered past the windows. The upstairs halls were hardwood floors, that were charred in many places with ash and soot scattered in every which way. I started at the end of the hall with only the light from the cloudy morning sky to provide me with any vision.

Carefully did I inch my way towards the door that was hung slightly open. I'd imagine it was from the family that lived here making a quick escape. When I was mere inches from the door I outstretched one of my long legs to push open the slightly ajar door. I held the gun up almost halting my breath, my body expecting the worst. I jumped slightly when I suddenly heard a voice, but it was Dean on the comms, _"I've got a survivor here. He's injured, but still alive. I'll be down here for a while."_

But my nerves were wound up so tight that when I heard more footsteps coming up from behind me I turned around in panic and nearly shot Roman in the arm again. He looked at me with surprised gray orbs as I carefully lowered my weapon putting back in it's holster. "Relax." he said to me calmly. Never in my life had I felt like I needed to scream at every given second. I looked up at him nodding slightly, as I began to slump my shoulders. I couldn't place my mind on it, but it was something about the Big Dog's presence that was so relaxing. Perhaps it was the fact that he was such a steadfast person who always put his brothers before his own needs, and despite his intimidating figure deep down he was as caring as they came. "There was nothing on the ground level and I don't want to scare the civilian Dean found by overwhelming them. Lets finish up here and wait for his status report."

There were three other rooms that needed to be explored, while I scouted the master bedroom and what looked to be a small child's room with the amount of toys scattered about Roman started on the other two rooms. He described one as a hobby room and the other as a "man cave" (whatever that meant), but it looked like there was nothing else to be found. It was time to join Dean in the basement, I could only hope the civilian he had found was okay. Still keeping quiet, we made our way down the stairs and towards the basement.

**~~~***~~~**

We pushed open the door to the basement sounds of faint talking echoing through the empty room. One of them was Dean's voice. The stairs beneath us creaked as we made our down I couldn't help but notice there was a missing step in the flight, might have been why the man was injured. It was getting darker down here especially around the missing step, anyone could have made the misstep. Of course it was probably no problem for Dean as the project allowed him to see in the dark. I pulled the right baton off my holster flipping the switch as it began to glow a bright neon green illuminating the path before us.

"Down here," our middle brother called to us. He must have heard us coming down. We finally reached the bottom, to see Dean wrapping up the man's knee. He gave us a short wave before turning his attentions back to the man. He had a few scrapes on his face but other than that he didn't look like he had any more injuries other than the obvious knee. "I think I might feel a small tear down there, but my older brother here should be able to bring you back to your group."

"What happened?" asked Roman walking over to carefully help the man up. The man explained slowly that he didn't notice the missing step and ended up falling down the stairs. "Are you a survivor of the attack?" asked the Colonel continuing his line of questioning. The man slowly shook his head explaining that he was apart of the scavengers group that was raiding the area.

"What are scavengers?" I asked not quite fully understand what was happening but this was certainly a hindrance in our investigation, but I wasn't going to accept that this man was hurt and could be possibly involved with the kidnapping of the Prime Minister. If they had an entire group here, then there was a chance that one of them have to had seen her limo. I still on the fence of Orton's intel was even correct, he hadn't been wrong before but no one was without some room of error.

Dean and Roman slowly helped the man up, his long dark hair falling just down below his shoulders. He had a well trimmed goatee and blueish eyes. He spoke with an odd accent I wasn't familiar with perhaps there was a chance he was from outside the Alliance. He seemed a bit unsteady but that was probably because of the injury to his knee, it was going to be a hard time getting him out of here considering the missing step on the stairs. "Scavengers pick the remains," answered the man getting an arm around our older brother's shoulders.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't scavenging illegal? Is that something you really want to admit to soldiers of the military?" piped up Dean. There were many laws I had to remember especially as an infiltrator, but this was the first time I'd ever heard about scavengers. I remained quiet and listened carefully on what they had to say about the matter.

"Scavenging is only illegal on territorial grounds. The Ursa Minor sector has been labeled as zero. It's a free range here now." There was that term again, 'zero'. For such a simple word every meaning that went into it was mundane. It allowed access to what would normally be illegal activities it meant that the Alliance no longer had value in the area they one held pride over. One moment Ursa Minor was a bustling suburban area, and now it was a bleak abandoned landscape devoid of life. "Our group operates within all legal grounds. We're not savages like some others." Explained the man with some aggression in his voice. I didn't seem to understand it all why the man was being so hostile, but something told me that being a scavenger wasn't exactly the most ideal line of work. "If I may, what do you all specialize in?" Now it was his turn for a line of questioning.

"That's a need to know basis only," Roman snapped quickly. This was one of those moments where we'd just let our older brother do the talking for now. He was always the most firm in his stance, it complimented his imposing figure. His presence alone was often enough to get someone to submit in an interrogation. "We're on in an investigation."

The man rubbed his chin, in thought. "You're all a bit overdressed for just an investigation. You're heavily armed with lots of medical supplies. There's no way you guys are just apart of the investigations department. Dare I say you guys are apart of Special Ops?" There it was again, this man had a very observant nature. He was no ordinary person, unless all scavengers were like this. If he didn't make such a simple mistake of falling down a set of stairs, I'd almost say this was an act. The way he demanded answers and asked questions was similar to my own. I had to be suspicious of this man, there was a chance he was an assassin. "Perhaps I can at least get the names of the men who saved my life?" he asked as Roman and Dean helped him up.

"The only names you need to know are, Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns." answered Roman pointing to each of us as he told him our last names. "We'd like to speak to your scavenging group if possible." The man nodded and with that Roman picked the man up like he was nothing and carried him up the stairs. When Dean tried to make his own way up I pulled on his arm and yanked him back. Meeting his gaze with mine.

"Don't trust him," I told Dean. "There's something very off, keep your eyes open." Our middle brother gave me a nod. He wasn't denying what I had to say, so there was a chance that he too may have his suspicions. We needed to speak to his group, I needed more information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally we see what happened to Ursa Minor


	3. Gray Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation in Ursa Minor continues....
> 
> Are the dark clouds that hang above them an omen?

This time Dean hung back to keep an eye on everything. He took heed of my warning and volunteered to take the back of the pack he had an arrow in hand holding Ceadeus in it's bow form. Since we had arrived there was something off about our middle brother too. I wasn't sure if it was being out in the open like this or the circumstances on why we were here. I didn't stop to think how this whole change of scenery would affect the man of our group who focused on saving lives. Never had I seen such a vindictive look within the Atlean's eyes. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but seeing as the normally open man was being overly quiet I figured it should be something asked more in private.

We were only traveling up the road a few miles, but because of the man's knee we couldn't strain him. From what it sounded like the injury to his knee was a serious matter and the wrong movement could injure him further. Dean was through in his explanation on how bad the injury was. Minutes became hours but we were able to make it to the scavengers' group.

The first thing I noticed was the large machinery being used to haul large scraps around the area, most of it looked like the rest of the destroyed city. Most of it was blackened from it being smoldering at some point and the rest of the air was crowded with shouting of people communicating to one another. The other thing I noticed was the series of tents lined up a short distance away from the dig site. They must have been here for the long haul. I had no idea what it was that scavengers did, but with the way they had everything set up it meant they were going to be here a while. The man caught our attentions again as he pointed out a large white tent on the opposite end.

Roman handed the care of our refuge off to Dean explaining that the white tent was a for those who got injured on the job. Probably a good place for him, he could lend them his expertise. Once they were out of sight, the oldest and I looked at one another trying to come up with a plan. "Someone here had to have seen her limousine," I told him. He nodded at me, I was pretty sure he was thinking the same thing. I didn't think that our middle brother finding that intact house was a blessing in disguise. Although we were probably going to find these scavengers eventually, finding the injured man helped us find this place faster.

_"I don't trust these people at all."_ spoke up Dean on the comms. I'm not sure if it was because of what I told him, or was it because he had his own suspicions. If there was anyone who could find out anything, it was going to be the Atlean. Who knows what he could see and hear right now, I could only imagine. _"I need to know more, ask around so I know where to keep my eyes and ears towards. I'm going to be here turns out they're pretty idiotic, they're practically begging for my help. All I said was that I was Atlean and they're eyes lit up like-"_

_"We get it, Dean."_ said Roman with annoyance in his voice. You'd think by now he'd be used to our middle brother's overly charismatic and awkwardly cocky attitude when it came to his medical studies. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, the interactions between the two was always amusing to watch and listen to. Dean was right though, we needed to ask around about the Prime Minister, there were many out there worried about her safety Roman's cousin being one of them.

I sighed thinking about how we were going to go about this investigation. We had decided to split up and start asking around to some of the other scavengers. Every single one we had approached brushed us off or completely ignored us, only focused on their current task. It was beyond frustrating knowing that there were deliberately trying to brush us aside not even giving us a chance. It was making this investigation even harder than it should have been. I could only hope that my brothers were having better luck than myself.

Before continuing I began to observe to learn a little more about these scavengers though. One of the first things I had notice is that none of them had spoken with the same accent. Every time it was different or slightly altered from the last. Were they too from different backgrounds like us? Dean, Roman, and myself were from different parts of Paragon. It made me wonder why scavengers existed and what common purpose they served. For The Shield, we established ourselves to a common goal of justice under our older brother's resolve. I wonder what their common was? For how unique they all were they seemed to be almost nomadic.

I looked up at the still cloudy skies, trying to keep my thoughts from wandering. That seemed to be something I did a lot as of late, especially when I was away from my brothers.

**~~~***~~~**

After many unsuccessful attempts at trying to get information, I decided to ask around those away from the machinery. Looking around to see if I could find someone that looked friendly, before I ended up laying eyes on a familiar face. It went to show just how small our world actually was to be able to run into him again. I knew that light brown hair and well trimmed beard. His green eyes and narrow eyed look was unforgettable, especially after working with it for so long. He was one of my many employers from Astros, and together he and I pulled off one of the greatest heists in the history of the city.

I wandered off from Roman and approached him slowly. I hoped he had remembered me and-"Holy crap, Tyler!" Well that eliminated that doubt. This was an honest shock to me, I figured he'd probably make it a priority to rid me of his records. No one would want to associate themselves with someone who had been caught, but I guess that didn't apply to him. I watched our older brother approach the two of us slowly, probably to give us some room. It was probably a surprise for him to actually see someone I recognize.

I held my hand out to him and the two of us shook before he pulled me into a light hug. "It's good to see you too, Michael." Roman looked at the two of us trying to get a read on him. I didn't blame the older man either, he was just cautious. He knew about my small criminal record and including the assassination and for me to know someone more than likely had to be a criminal himself. If that was running through his mind...he wasn't wrong. Michael and I were once jewel thieves.

"It's actually not Michael McGillicutty anymore," he explained as I raised an eyebrow at him. "I go by Curtis Axel now. Had to make precaution after you were…" he eyed Roman as the islander came closer. "After you were caught." he finished slowly trying to be wary of my older brother. He looked like he really didn't like Roman's presence. "He your new partner?"

"One of two," answered the raven haired man not giving Curtis any room to be at ease. This was a dangerous spot for me. Roman nor the military had any idea about the heists he and I used to pull, I got caught and tried only on the assassination. I hastily looked between the two, one of my current partners and my old, and it seemed like some old wounds were about to be opened up. The last thing I needed was Roman to lose trust in me.

I yanked on Curtis' arm and pulled him in close looking at Roman for a second, who only looked at us with an eyebrow raised. "Could you give me a moment?" I asked him politely. He gave a small nod but the look on his face said he was still suspicious. Curtis and I walked a little ways away from the larger man to talk to each other still staying close. "I need you to shut up." I told him getting straight to the point. Curtis and I had been on enough levels of familiarity that we were comfortable about being straightforward with one another. "Neither one of my partners know about the heist, and I'd like it to stay that way. So far no one in the military has questioned me about it."

Curtis looked at me with wide eyes. "You've gone soft, Tyler?" Of course that'd be his first assumption. He's been at thievery for years, a lot longer than I had. I was an infiltration specialist but without the proper back up we were nothing. Curtis and I were an amazing team, he provided me with the technical support, all I did was go in and steal the prize. It was because of Curtis why I even knew about a scrambler in the first place. According to him, his first partner went missing after years of being together. He used to tell me a lot about his old partner, often liked to remind me that I shared similar qualities with him.

I looked down for a moment, he wasn't completely off. From one thief to another, one could say that I did go soft. I had been with the military for almost a year. "I guess you could say that. I'm still an infiltrator, I'm just not doing it illegally now." I looked back at Curtis to get a read on his expression. He looked rather conflicted. I felt like I should probably wrap this conversation, talking about this with so many wandering ears was making me uncomfortable, especially when one of those wandering ears was Roman. "Listen to me Curtis, you can't call me Tyler Black anymore. Tyler is dead." He remained quiet to let me finish. "I go by Seth Rollins now."

"I understand." I couldn't help but notice that Curtis looked somewhat conflicted upon hearing that. I wanted to know what he was thinking. When I first got to Astros, I had many employers, but never did they last long. The more employers I had the more and more I realized just how ameatuer they were, because none of them compared to Curtis. We ended up teaming together for almost two years, and together we stole one of the most precious pieces from the Museum of Paragon History…

_The Eye of Taladen_

There was a multitude of reasons why we decided on stealing The Eye. It was originally my idea, but I would have never considered it if it didn't keep appearing in Tyler's journal. It's an entry I read over and over again every time I needed to look something over in the journal. It was about the day Tyler had killed his king. He had stolen The Eye from his king and hid it in the Leviathan Providence hoping that it's powers would never be used. Since then Tyler had mentioned that he was constantly back and forth between Asgard and Leviathan Providence. He felt the need to constantly check up on The Eye, and that's how he met his apprentice.

There was an old legend about the Eye. One of them spoke about those with purpose who held the eye would be granted immense power beyond their imagination. Which was probably why the project that was meant to give humans super powers was named after it. After Curtis and I had stolen it, I had entrusted the eye to him which was probably for the better considering what had happened afterwards. I yanked on his arm leaning back in to whisper in his ear. "What happened to it?"

He looked away brow furrowing in thought. This wasn't a good sign, and I hoped it was just my paranoia that was speaking. "I-I lost it." he said sounding very ashamed.

I raised my hand about to punch him in the face for losing one of the most precious pieces of this continent. I was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Oh yeah, I had almost forgot that Roman had been standing there. He approached us once more as we slowly turned to him, "Not to interrupt, but Seth we do have an investigation to get to." He looked between the two of us seeing how close we were standing. "How do you guys know each other anyway?"

Curtis looked like he was trying to answer but was beginning to trip over his words. We couldn't just tell him we used to be thieves but the constant stammering of my former partner was causing my current one to raise an eyebrow. This situation was looking very bad and I didn't need Roman becoming suspicious of us. I needed to think fast and come up with something quick-"W-we used to date!" I shouted. That quick response earned me a quicker glance from Curits. It was probably not the best response but the chuckling from the raven haired man told me that he had bought it.

I watched as Roman leaned in with a silly grin eyeing Curtis up and down. The two stared at one another, giving one another awkward glances. "You're going to try and steal Seth away from us?" he asked mockingly followed by a laugh. I merely facepalmed at his antics, was he really trying to be the playful older brother when just moments ago he was reminding us of the investigation we had to do. When Roman recieved nothing but an eyebrow as a response from Curtis he laughed a little bit more, before leaning back out of his personal space. "I'm going to ask around, I suggest you do the same Seth and report any findings."

"Of course, Roman." I sighed in relief as he finally walked away which was earning me more dirty looks from Curtis. "I'm sorry, I had to think of something." I chuckled as he shook his head still not wanting to respond. He was still pretty speechless from my quick response but it proved effective for how easily the older man had walked away. I gave as deep sigh, this trip was becoming worse and worse.

**~~~***~~~**

I ended up giving Curtis on why we were here. I explained that we were on an investigation but I didn't give him more than we were told. He seemed too pretty shocked that someone had a vendetta against the new Prime Minister and admitted that he was a pretty big fan of her work and her military career. It had me thinking however. Before I was captured, I didn't think much of the military but now being apart of it I couldn't have been more wrong in my life.

The Alliance military controlled everything, they knew everything. I only knew about Special Ops which was one of branches apart of investigations, which in turn was apart of a larger tree of military departments. In the Falishian Alliance the military was everything in the end. It seemed like almost everyone's dream to become the model soldier and to prove themselves worthy to the Alliance, It was such a grim way of looking at things, but it felt like it was all I saw. No matter where you go, the military was always watching.

"I might have something." said Dean once more over snapping me out of my deep thoughts. I had to excuse myself away from Curtis to listen to what the Atlean had to say. "I was talking to one of the nurses here…" 'Talking' was a light way of putting it when it came to Dean Ambrose, more than likely he had to be flirting. He was good at turning on is charm or intimidation when it came to prodding people for information but there was no in between. "And she had mentioned about their overseer might have seen something. I'm going to go check it out since I've got nothing else here, but I'd prefer it if one of you guys came with me. I still don't trust these people."

"I'll come with you, Dean." I answered. "I'd like to talk to this overseer myself." I had turned to Curtis who looked quite confused, I felt bad keeping him out of the loop after everything we had been through it felt strange not being able to tell him much. It was a little heartbreaking but I've already told him a little more information than what I usually give the girls and they tried to guilt trip us all the time into telling them (especially Bayley). Curtis and I exchanged a few words once more before I had to excuse myself away from him to head back to the tent we had left Dean.

As I walked, I looked to the skies once more. I noticed that the cloud patterns hadn't shifted at all since we arrived. Not even the slightest change in patterns even after moving from the drop point, which we were miles away from now. At first I thought it was because it was a windless day, but it had begun to pick up as I tried constantly to move my flailing hair from my face but still the hazy gray clouds remained undisturbed. I doubt Roman and Dean had noticed but where I was from sometimes watching the weather was all you had. There was something very disturbing about the clouds but I couldn't quite place my mind on it. Perhaps the Atlean could have noticed something, after all he the only person I knew that could have any insight on this subject.

As my mind was surrounded in doubt I silently made my way over to the tent without realizing it I had bumped into another person. However the person was so steadfast that his form gave no way and instead caused me to fall straight onto my rear. I felt embarrassed that I toppled over that easily but the only person I knew who was that irresistible was Roman. I hoisted myself back to my feet with a small kick up showing off my agility a little, but when I didn't hear a peep from the other man I knew right then and there I couldn't have bumped my older brother.

I looked up at the figure seeing he was the same high as Roman, but he looked much bigger in bulk. That caused a cold sweat to drive down my neck. He was massive and pale in skin, with bleach blond hair buzz cut extremely short. I couldn't even get a good look at the color of his eyes as I was distracted by his intimidating form and impassive look. The man didn't even bother to spare me a glance or even a word, he simply reached down and hoisted me back to my feet with one arm. That caught me by surprise since I the only person I knew who could do that was Roman and I thought it was because of his super strength. I shook that thought from my head.

Before I could give even some thanks he had walked off still keeping a solid glance on whatever direction he seemed to be walking before I had bumped into him. His image was now burned into my head raising all sorts of questions. Just who was that man, he was no ordinary figure with now imposing he had looked. It had begun to bother me for just how much his presence alone was throwing up so many red flags in my mind.

"Seth's got them gears turning," spoke up my middle brother's voice from behind me. On instinct I nearly elbowed him in the nose out of both fear and habit. He looked mostly unphased merely placing a hand on the elbow that was inches from his face and lowered it slowly. "What's the deal? You've been wound up so tight since we had arrived." To be honest, I had no idea what had me rattled either. I thought running into an old friend would have relaxed my nerves but it was no avail. Maybe I was just terrified to be here, to know that there was a slight possibility that the one who destroyed this place could still be lurking.

"Just drop it, Dean." That was a mistake to tell him. I suddenly found my smaller frame be thrown up against a large steel beam stuck in the ground. I let out a small whimper as my back collided with the cold metal causing the blade strapped to my back to dig into me some.. It seemed the Atlean's temper was getting the better of him at the moment, but I didn't blame him. Maybe he too was just a bundle of nerves. "Dean…" I started trying to reason with him, the only thing he did was grip my arms tighter.

"I don't want your bullshit, Seth!" I felt his grip grow tighter, I knew he was just trying to get me to speak but I couldn't. If he knew the truth of why I was terrified he'd-"I'm not gonna ask again Seth."

This was getting us nowhere, "The clouds, Dean! Okay! I don't expect you to get it but the clouds are what's bothering me." When I felt the Atlean's grip loosen on my arms I looked into his eyes. Of course he'd have a confused look, it was as I expected it's why I didn't feel like saying anything, but there was no hiding anything from Dean. "It's been bothering me since we got here. I thought it was because there was a lack of wind but surely you've figured it out by now. They've not budged an inch since we had gotten here."

I watched as Dean backed off and started inspecting the skies around us. They were still same color as before and the patterns remained all the same. There wasn't a single patch of light blue in the sky. We were well into the afternoon and yet the sun at it's highest point had yet to show. He remained quiet before returning his attentions to me, "Holy crap, and here I thought you were just trying to get me off your back. Do you think Roman's noticed?" I shook my head, I don't think he mostly pays attention on what's around us on the ground, but he always knew where the threats were. "But why? What could cause such unusual weather patterns, or lack thereof I should say. You don't think this has to deal with…"

Dean suddenly hesitated, we were both thinking it but neither one of us wanted to say it. It the unusual weather had to deal with the test subject then we were right there in the middle of enemy territory more so than we already were. Fear was beginning for roll off the both of us in waves, I could only hope it was paranoia. I liked to believe I was fearless, but there was that slight prodding in the back of my mind that knew we stood no chance against the subject that had destroyed this town. If he could turn it into this, what could he do to us?

I felt the taller man grab the back of my head and step in close pulling me into a loose hug. He'd be the first to notice my evident fear. I decided to relax and just place my head on his shoulder in hopes to calm down. The presence of both my brothers always seemed to do that for me. It seemed that comforting me seemed to let them relax in the same way, and I was more than happy to be their source of comfort being the younger brother and all. For Dean and I this was how it's been since the time when Lorken had threatened to put Orton's assassination on me.

Each of us had our own way of showing comfort and affection, it showed the deep trust we had with one another as well as just how deep our brotherhood went. Dean practically wore his heart on his sleeve, and wasn't afraid to express if not downright voice how he was feeling. Never in my life had I met someone who was quite the emotional wildfire that was Dean Ambrose but that was where we complemented one another. Finally I felt myself melt in my older brother's arms.

"You listen to me Seth, we're brothers...you, me, and even Roman. We're going to be there for one another, and I'll keep making this speech until it finally sinks into that thick Mereian skull of yours," he said with his ever so charming grin plastered on his face. He signaled me to follow him as we continued onward to our destination.

**~~~***~~~**

We had finally arrived when we saw a larger tan colored tent. It wasn't open like the medical one we had sent Dean off to earlier. This one was closed off and seemed to just be away from everything else. Even for something as simple as a tent there was still some sort of glam to it. The wealthy of the Alliance certainly had no trouble showing it off if this tent and the dinner party was anything to go by. The thought just made me sigh in absolute annoyance. Any time I saw someone showing off their riches only reminded me of Wyndmere and it's disgusting nobles.

We approached it slowly keeping an eye on what was around us, Dean more so than anything. Now that I've pointed out the stillness in the skies he was more alert than ever. The front of the tent had slit between two flaps for people to come in and out. I had wondered what kind of man this overseer would be, and how he could manage this many people from all the way on the opposite end. We stopped just before the entrance for him to call out to us from the inside, "I don't bite!" he said followed by a laugh.

The man had a bit of pompous sounding attitude. The kind of person who would normally hold themselves above people. I took a deep breath and stepped in first. The first thing I noticed was the small fold out table in the center with a rather rotund man in a sharp business suit in a simple fold out chair with piles of paperwork in front of him. He looked rather short in stature and what was left of a deep black hair balding from the top. With the way he looked, and his arrogant expression I could tell this man was all business.

He put the pen down and looked up at us with cocky grin that put Dean's to shame. "I take it you're the investigators that have some questions for me?" It was amazing how fast information traveled here, it seemed like nothing could get past this man. I felt like there was more to him than what was on the surface. He was absolutely radiating arrogance it was almost sickening. He looked between Dean and I, and I could tell right away he was inspecting us. I could see it in his eyes with how rapidly they were moving up and down trying to get his own read on us. He was inspecting our gear, our builds, and most of all our expressions. He leaned back in his chair, "Gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman I'm the overseer of this site." he offered his hand out to us.

Dean was the first to shake it, "Dean Ambrose." I noticed instantly that Paul's eyebrows lifted in fascination. With the way the Atlean raised his own eyebrow the motion wasn't lost on him. I silently looked back and forth between the two as the tension started to rise between the two with Dean slowly retracting his hand.

I was the next to take Paul's hand and shake it, "Second Lieutenant Seth Rollins." I politely introduced myself while keeping an eye on Dean. There was something that didn't feel right, I felt like I was in the middle of war zone that was going to break out between the two. Something about my older brother peaked Mr. Heyman's interest, and I had a feeling in my gut what it was.

"Ambrose, as in the famous doctor with an entire collection of research on the human genome? That Ambrose?" I watched Dean carefully to see how he'd respond. I watch the blue eyes stare deep into Mr. Heyman as the rotund man just continued grinning. He was up to something I know it. " I'm a fan of his work, I didn't know he had a son-"

"Not his son, just his apprentice," Dean interrupted rather quickly. I thought he'd be flattered to be considered his son but I guess I'd ask him about that later. I watched to see if his expression would change at all, and it did. The Atlean's demeanor slowly went from curious to annoyed, and for how quickly it had changed the ugly side of Dean was about to rear it's ugly head. I knew that the subject of Doctor Ambrose was a sensitive subject but not this much. Was Dean reading something in Paul's look that I couldn't see?

The two shared the silent stand off before getting back to the business at hand. I was worried that Dean was going to fly off into one of his fits of rage but I was thankful. I knew how to get Roman to calm, but the Atlean was on a whole other level. I sighed in relief, just trying not to think about it for now. We came here to gather information for our investigation. "Mr. Heyman, we'd like to ask you a few questions. Ambrose and I are from investigations, which I assume you've already realized. We heard from your nurses that you might be able to help us." I stopped for a moment to get another read on Mr. Heyman, he seemed he was listening quite intently so I continued. "We just have one question…" I paused to take a deep breath, this was going to make or break us. "Could you tell us all and any information you have if you were the one that spotted the Prime Minister's limousine?"

"Dean, Seth! We need to get out of here now! The test subject is here!" sparked up Roman's voice in a panic. I felt myself break out into a cold sweat. We were out of time, they knew we were here. This all seemed to be convenient in Heyman's favor. I took one last time to get a look at the pompous business man who looked like he hadn't moved. He had something to do with this, I know it. But we had no time left to ask anymore questions, the more we stood around the more we were leaving Roman at the test subject's mercy. "The scavengers...everyone they're all dead."

I felt my body freeze just processing what Roman had said. Was it true? Did the rogue kill all the scavengers? What about Adam? What about-

No. My heart sank, I didn't want to believe it.

I shoved Dean out of my way running at full speed back to the dig site. The only thing I could think of was screaming at the top of my lungs. "Curtis!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The test subject makes his appearance!


	4. Crimson Stains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The unknown stained their hands blood red...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for an emotional roller coaster in these next few chapters, and there's a PoV change at the end of this one. 
> 
> Enjoy! :D

I kept running. My entire body felt like it was on fire from the adrenaline and emotions running through me. I didn't dare look back to see if Dean was following the only thing I cared about is knowing whether or not my friend was alright. As I ran I heard the booming sound of thunder up above catching my attention for a brief moment. I hadn't noticed it before, but the clouds were even darker than before, like a rainstorm at night and yet it was still high in the afternoon.

This obscure weather wasn't from the test subject was it? I jumped as a lightning bolt crashed to the ground nearly a foot away from me. I stared at the smoldered ground in horror. What was happening? There's no way the project could have given someone with this much power. It hit me all at once, Roman too was in the middle of all this. I picked up the pace once more now with my older brother's image burned into my mind.

I picked up the pace with the faint sounds of Dean shouting trying to catch up to me. I ran back to the last spot where I had left Curtis. Anyone who was here that was once a energetic, hard working scavenger, was not just a lifeless corpse. I looked around carefully, but none of them was Curtis' body, that meant there was a chance he was still alive. I had to keep looking, I needed to know where he was I could only hope that he was still alive. He was resourceful, I needed to have more faith.

_"Dean, Seth. You guys need to run."_ There was Roman again speaking up, to my slight relief. At least he was still alive. But to tell us to run? No, I wasn't going to and I hardly think that Dean was going to do the same. We'd never forgive ourselves to just abandon our older brother like that. I looked behind me to see that our middle brother had caught up. He dared not to look around, knowing that he was going to see nothing but horror. Seeing this many dead bodies, couldn't have been an ideal sight for a doctor.

No words had to be exchanged between the two of us, there was no need for it. We needed to find our older brother. _"Please tell me you'll run. I don't want to see you guys hurt."_ Neither one of us had responded to Roman, and now he was begging us to run. Just how much danger were we actually in? All the training, all the military courses couldn't have prepared us for this. He manhandled and swiftly killed all the scavengers under our noses, to where there was a chance that Roman hadn't noticed.

Roman...we still needed to reach him. I was caught between finding Curtis and saving my older brother. Never had my mind been in such disarray. I bit my lip, and charged forward not even bothering to spare Dean a glance. My heart was racing, it felt like it was trying to push out of my chest. My decision would come down to whomever I'd find first. I could only pray deep down that neither one were dead yet. Everything felt like it was about to collapse on me, like the world was trying to crush us into dust. I could only continue running, my heart beginning to beat faster and faster.

And where was Orton in all of this? It wasn't like the Brigadier General to stay quiet for long, in dire times he'd be trying to give us instruction to get us out of here, and yet he remained silent. What if Orton was...my pace began to slow and I found myself biting my lip to a point where there was the metallic taste of blood on my tongue. My heart sank, but I just had to know, _"Orton!"_ I called out awaiting a response. Nothing. _"Pegasus Station! This is Second Lieutenant Seth Rollins of The Shield, please respond!"_ There was still nothing. Did Orton too betray us? Was he no better than Lorken? My hand balled into a fist, it seemed like just everyone around us was ready to stab us in the back at any moment.

I didn't want to think that way. I needed to have more faith in him however, the only thing I could think of was that someone baited us away from Orton to take him out of the picture. But who could want Randy out of the way? Unfortunately I didn't know enough about the Brigadier General to know just how many enemies he had. I gave up trying to get a hold of the station, I needed to continue.

**~~~***~~~**

Panic, that was all that filled my being. Dean and I had remained close but he too had a growing worry for our older brother. We had yet to see Roman or Curtis for that matter, and that raised my concern even higher. "There!" called Dean pointing out to the side. Through the debris and corpses, he found one still moving. If my heart could sink any lower it would have, that still breathing corpse was my former partner, and close friend. I felt the world go blank around me, I no longer heard anyone's voices other than my own thought running amok.

Slowly I approached Curtis' body slowly. I kneeled down cradling his head in my arms. "We're going to get you some help," I spoke to him tearing off a strip of his shirt. When I leaned down to try and and wrap his would with the strip of cloth he reached up and gripped my wrists, pushing my hands away. He was slowly shaking his head, all while still keeping a bright smile. Why? Did he not want to be saved?

"Don't even try, Tyler-I mean Seth," he said weakly followed by a chuckle. While I was training, my father did tell me that sometimes victims would like to die laughing. Give them a last moment of reprieve before taking their last breath. I finally understood what he meant now. He was enjoying his last moments, recalling our friendship in his last gasp.

He motioned for me to come closer with a bloodied hand. Carefully I leaned in only for him to reach up and grab the back of my neck pulling me in. "She has it," he started. I leaned in closer to hear him more. "The Prime Minister was here. Heyman has the Alliance in his pocket, and arranged her kidnapping. I…" he paused as he began to cough up blood. I reached down and grabbed a hold of his hand gripping it tightly. "I gave her The Eye. Find her...and don't let them have it."

"You're going to help, right?" I responded taking a stronger grip of his hand, as he took an equal grip of mine. I didn't want to let go, I know at this point I was clinging to false hope but I couldn't let him go. Curtis was my first friend when I came to the Alliance, and we had been through so much together. "Dean! You have to do something. Please!" I felt the Atlean's hand on my shoulder, and when I looked up at him he was slowly shaking his head.

There was nothing he could do. There was nothing I could do. I never felt so helpless in my life, I just wanted to save Curtis' life. "I'll get The Eye back." I watched as he slowly nodded with a smile on his face. The dark clouds above us boomed once more, signaling the end of his life. His eyes shut finally and his grip loosened. I couldn't believe it, his body was limp in my arms. Someone I held so dearly, was taken from me.

All I wanted to do was scream and let out all the built up frustration. I lifted his head cradling close to my chest. That scream let loose from my being. I refused to cry though, I wouldn't give the test subject that satisfaction. The test subject. He was going to pay for this. I watched as Roman's body was tossed overhead landing on the floor just a foot behind us. I sat there motionless for a moment, not caring about the world around me. Dean's shouting to check on our older brother barely reached my ears. I only sat there cradling the corpse of what was once my friend. I found all rational thought beginning to leave my mind. At this point I wanted one thing.

**Revenge.**

It was the only thing I could think of. It was the only thing my mind wanted. All I could think about was what I wanted to do to the thing that caused this carnage. I'd make him feel the agony that I was feeling. I laid Curtis' head gently down on the ground, and took his hands and crossed them on where his heart was once beating. "May the holy mother accept you to her womb, and give you life anew." With that I lowered my mask and placed the gentle kiss on his forehead, finishing the traditional Radiance send off.

**~~~***~~~**

With my mind a jumbled mess, I stood from my spot. From the corner of my eye I watched as Dean helped Roman to his feet. I spared them no glance, but somehow I felt they knew what was on my mind. They made no motion towards me, said no words. They stood there silently, letting me grieve my loss.

I reached down and unlatched the buckle from my holster dropping my batons and guns to the floor. Next I reached up and undid all the buckles and fastens from my vest letting that too drop to the ground. Lastly I reached up and ripped the mask off my face and threw it to the ground. The only thing that was left on me was the blade strapped to my back.

I finally looked up from my spot and turned towards the man responsible for this. It was the same man I had ran into before Dean and I had gone to talk to Heyman. He wore a killer smile, and small bolts of purple static surging through his arms, which only made his imposing presence more intimidating. But if he was the monster that had caused this, he was about to meet one all the same. "That's him," spoke up Roman, who sounded like he was trying to catch his breath. "That's the man who destroyed this town... Brock Lesnar."

I tugged the strap of the sheath over my head. I took a grip of the padded hilt and placidly pulled the blade free from it's confinement. It was long, thin, and slightly curved. It was slightly tinted black but polished to where it did show a reflection of the subject's violet static. I tilted my head feeling the small pop in my neck. I had hoped my brothers would never see this side of me. This was the vicious killer that remained dormant within, the man I was raised to be.

I threw the sheath to the side taking a hold of the blade with both hands holding it so that the blade was shown diagonally across my body. When I was training I chose to use short ranged weapons for swift strikes and quick kills. I always found weapons like this meant for longer drawn out fights where I wanted to cause damage to my enemy. "Seth?"

That was the snap.

With a loud battle cry I charged at the test subject. All my restraints gone, all grip I had on sanity relinquished. All I saw was blood, I needed vengeance. I aimed the blade to cleave his chest right open. With quick precision, he caught my weapon just letting it sink into his hand. This man had to be some a monster of some sort on another level to just a sharp weapon dig into his hand the way it was. I made a short jump to kick his arm to release the grip he had on my weapon, and taking a hold of it I swept the blade upwards leaving a deep wound on one of his pectorals.

He just stared at me with a menacing gaze. He just let the the crimson liquid just run down his chest and hand to drip onto the cold ground. The clouds above us boomed once more. It was as if the clouds were channeling his anger. I didn't want to think about that right now, I had to make him suffer like he did these people. I charged at him once more with another cry. Using sharp dexterity I was able to slip under his legs giving his thigh a deep cut along my path. I stood quickly to give his back another wound with a downwards strike.

But he beat me to that one. He quickly turned around and collided one of his large arms into my smaller frame with a haymaker effectively sending me to the ground and knocking me away a good foot from him. I looked up as he began to approach me before being cut off by Dean who lept at him with Ceadeus in hand trying to aim his staff wherever he could. I was in horror as our middle brother's attacks proved to be nothing to him and he ended up throwing the Atlean up over his shoulder like a ragdoll, similar to how Roman would throw people around.

Roman was the next to try his luck, although the raven haired man was already bested already. He wasn't going to idly stand aside. I watched as the Colonel pulled his prized rifle off his back and began to take shot after shot at Brock. Some of the bullets hit their mark, but the pale man didn't seem to care. Just what kind of a man was he? He seemed completely inhuman.

While the rogue was distracted I'd take this window of opportunity. I quickly got up picking up my blade, I didn't hesitate. I raised the blade to try cleave it down onto his shoulder but like before he quickly turned around to catch me by the throat and sent me soaring into Roman knocking him down and slid a little further on the ground into a small pile of broken glass. I could feel many of the larger shards digging into my side. I tried to crawl over to where my blade had fallen only to be stopped when a heavy foot came down on my wrist. I looked up to see it was the rotund man from before.

He dug his heel into my wrist just to remind me just who had the upper hand. If this man truly had the Alliance in his pocket, why? What for? What did this man want from the Alliance? Curtis' words echoed again and again in my mind. Before my thoughts could continue further I felt those glass shards being dug deeper into my side. I cried out as I felt the sharp ends dig into my flesh and through my muscles. He wanted to show that we had no chance of even being able to defeat Brock. "Tsk. Tsk. I thought you would be smarter than that Mr. Rollins. I was gravely mistaken." Heyman kneeled down and grabbed a fist full of my hair, yanking it and forcing me to look up at him. "Let me give you a piece of advice. I'd stop sticking your nose in business that's not yours, and you won't end up like Orton. If he had just stayed out of my business I wouldn't have had to him killed."

That explained a lot as to why Orton wasn't responding to any of my calls. Heyman had manipulated the scenes to get us away from the Brigadier General. He more than likely staged an attack on Pegasus as soon as we arrived here. Just what were we involved in exactly? Obviously this man had some sort of vendetta against Randy, and now we were caught in the middle of it. I'm sure that he hadn't meant for us to become involved as much as we were already, we were just a team that he had trusted the most. This web of lies and deception was all spun by this man.

I felt him kick me in the side where the glass was. He wanted to add insult to injury and I could feel that side of my shirt starting to become soaked, and the metallic scent of blood beginning to ring heavy in the air. I looked up to see that Roman and Brock had their hands locked up beginning to push against one another. Every flex in the pale muscles, every sadistic sneer planted on his face, was always met with surge of purple static through his arms, which then triggered the sound of crashing thunder echoing through the sky.

**~~~***~~~**

I could now only watch helplessly as Brock began to decimate my brothers. Never had I seen Roman being out powered the way he was. He was dragging the raven haired man to his knees. The project had made Roman inhumanly strong, but it seemed that this test subject was on a different level. I watched my older brother's muscles strain as he struggled to push against Brock. Heyman who had still hovered above me just laughed at our struggle. "You see, I paid to have Brock go through multiple experiments. With the improvements to the project I was without a doubt that he'd become stronger than The Clairvoyant. He's quite a masterpiece, if only Doctor Ambrose were still alive to see this."

Brock continued to push Roman into the ground even with two arrows now pierced into his body. But I knew that look on Dean's face. It was that look he gave when you knew he was beginning to lose all restraint on himself. When he was ready to fight with reckless abandon, showing the true nature of an Atlean. I watched as the auburn haired man let for Brock attempting to put him in a blood choke with one arm wrapped tightly around his neck and the other around the top trying to press down on it. "I want you to watch, Second Lieutenant, and I want you to remember this day. Your friend's and brothers' blood...all on Orton's hands, and you just let it happen. This is your fault, Seth." Heyman continued as if nothing was happening.

But it's not my fault!

It's Heyman's and Lesnar's!

Right? Or is it my fault?

I couldn't bring myself to speak. I began to quake in fear. I watched as the enforcer kicked Roman in the gut finally bringing my older brother on his back. He raised one of his large legs bring it down on the raven haired man's chest. Tears began to well up in my eyes as Roman cried out in pain and blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. With his hands free he reached up and pulled Dean off of him throwing him into the ground. Lastly he pulled one of the arrows off his back and looked down at the medic with that same sadistic sneer. He kneeled down and drove that arrow right into Dean's shoulder. Now the tears were flowing from my eyes, my brothers were at his mercy...we all were.

Even when I tried to get up I felt a pain in my thigh. I hadn't noticed that Heyman had picked up my blade and drove it into my thigh. He was enjoying torturing me just as much as Brock was doing to my brothers. I screamed out catching both Roman and Dean's attentions, and I saw the horror in their eyes too. They were both just as scared as I was. If Heyman was manipulating everything, then he had to be the ones who let us get comfortable. To let us think we were on top of the world. He let us get comfortable thinking we were the greatest Special Ops team the Alliance had ever seen, and for a brief moment that could have been true. Which made it that much more satisfying for Heyman to be able to knock us down.

Heyman pulled a cloth out from the pocket of his blazer beginning to wipe the blood off his hands. My blood to be more exact. "I'd stay longer, but I have business in Luna. You should have stayed in Wyndmere, Seth. You could have avoided all of this." As soon as he was finished wiping my blood off his hands he threw the cloth down purposely aiming for my face. I threw the crimson stained cloth down as he turned to my brothers and the rogue subject. "Brock!" he screamed. "Leave the pups to lick their wounds."

I watched as Brock nodded and began walking towards Dean. No. I struggled to get up but the blade was still in my leg which had me pinned to the ground. Any means of struggle only sent waves of pain through my body. "Dean!" I called out trying to get him to do anything. "Dean! Run!" I cried out again. The Atlean too was covered in cuts and forming bruises. He put as much effort as he could to try and retreat backwards across the ground. But Brock was stalking him, laughing at his attempts to flee. Blue eyes evident with fear.

"Dean!" cried out Roman as well. He too feared what fate awaited our middle brother. But he couldn't move either. With the way he held his ribs and the blood dripping from his mouth there was a chance he more than likely broke a few ribs as well as some internal bleeding. Dean however only had the injury in his shoulder, that's why the rogue chose him. He wanted him to suffer just as much as we were..Maybe even more.

Dean's efforts were futile. I watched as finally Brock lifted him by his wrist forcing him to his feet, and just so the Atlean wouldn't struggle he planted a solid knee strike in his stomach as well. With the auburn haired man now keeled over with both hands he took a solid grip of Dean's bicep. My breath came to a slow still, and time seemed to move slower as Brock began to ever so slightly to twist Dean's arm with both hands. I could no longer watch. I shut my eyes as tight as I could. I dare not watch what he was going to do.

The last thing I heard was a blood curdling scream pierce and echo through the skies.

_Dean…_

I refused to open my eyes, I just let myself fade to black.

**~~~ _Three days later..._ ~~~**

I snapped awake and jolted to sit up from my slumber, only to feel a sharp pain around my lower torso. I was instantly met with arms around my neck and a sigh of relief. "You're awake!" I reached up instinctively pulled Seth in close just letting my little brother sob on my shoulder. I counted my blessings that we were somehow alive. I looked over to my right to see that there were two more beds. One was empty which made me assume it was Seth's and the other was still an unconscious Dean.

His chest was rising up and down which meant he was still alive but the covers were pulled up to his neck, so I couldn't inspect the damage that Lesnar had done to him. I didn't watch, Dean had begged me to look away, but the sound of his scream would be something imbedded into my mind permanently. It would act as a reminder that I failed to protect my brothers. After a few minutes Seth backed away to the chair he had been sitting in previously. "Where are we?" I asked him.

"Back in Cassiopeia. Turns out Orton likes to plan ahead," Explained Seth, looking down. He looked nervous and unsure. The first time I had seen Seth look like that was back during our first trip together in Astros nearly over six months ago. It made me think just how far we have fallen now. The Shield had been cracked, and we were backed into a corner. "From what how Cassandra explained it to me, Randy had felt like something was off so he called her privately to head out for Ursa Minor but to keep a steady distance. Once Brock and Heyman were gone she and a medical team collected us quickly and brought us here."

"And Orton?" I asked shakily, practically regretting asking the moment I did. I didn't want to think that I too had just lost a close friend like Seth did. There was that sense of crushing defeat when I saw the Mereian's gaze avert my own. Those large brown orbs looked so distraught as he bit his lower lip. I knew for sure that I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear.

I watched as he was almost trying to press his hands together as they clasped tightly in his lap. "Pegasus has fallen, and no one seems to be able to get a hold of the Brigadier General. It's like he's just disappeared. Heyman seems like he's got something against Randy."

I rubbed my chin in thought, unless something happened long ago that I was unaware of there was no way that Randy could have any dealings with him. The rotund man was the third Prime Minister of the Alliance and was the reason why it flourished the way it did. He knew exactly what to do with money and the people's taxes and the people were heartbroken when his term was up. I was shocked to see him there even if was for just a moment. "Maybe not Randy directly, but perhaps investigations all together. It'd just seem natural to go after the heart of it all. Investigations are his biggest threat, which makes me think that maybe his run as Prime Minister wasn't as glamorous as the people made it out to be."

I saw the complete look of uncertainty on Seth's face. He looked completely bewildered on exactly was going on. "How are you feeling, Seth?" His head snapped up from his hands in his lap looking at me with large confused eyes, so I asked again. "How are you, little brother? Do you think you'll make a recovery?"

"According to Cassandra that I'm going to need a lot of physical therapy for my leg, but it's a miracle that I can walk. But before I can start that I need to wait for my stitches to heal." he instinctively placed a gentle hand on his side where he was bandaged up. He looked worse for wear, and I'm sure other than when we were in Astros, he's probably never experienced anything like this before. I noticed a sudden drop in his tone when he suddenly looked over to our middle brother on the opposite side of the room. "Dean however, he's not moved at all since we got here. You were at least stirring in your sleep, but he's remained perfectly still. When I asked Cassandra about it, she said that it was possible that he's still recovering from shock due to the excruciating amount of pain he was put through. It's just like we're back in the research facility."

Seeing Seth was shaking I felt like I needed to do something. As the oldest of us, I felt like I hadn't done enough to ease the tension between us, it was usually the youngest beating me to it. But for once he was terrified, and uncertain. It was hard to see someone as confident as the Mereian look so defeated. We were broken, lost, scared, confused, myself included...but our brotherhood was still intact. We were alive and still had each other. I reached down and grabbed the smaller man's hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. Although we were down, we were far from out.


	5. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shield has been cracked, but it's not broken. 
> 
> The aftermath of Brock's attack...

Never was one of us not by his bed side. When one had to leave to get checked up or to get something to eat the other would stay by Dean's side, so that he had a friendly face when he woke up. It's been two days and he still lied still, not even a gentle stir. Seth nor myself made no move to move the blanket that had him covered. Cassandra had grown worried that our middle brothers injuries might have left some deep psychological trauma which was causing him to have a shut down. His mind was trying to process what happened to him, especially the pain he endured.

I looked up when a paper coffee cup was thrusted in my face. The two-toned man was trying to wake me up with a hot cup and a warm smile. He was trying to keep our spirits up while we waited for our brother to find himself. I gently took the warm drink from Seth's hand and sipped on it. There was that tang of cinnamon just how the younger man always liked his coffee. I gave a sigh returning my gaze back to the Atlean that just lied in the bed. He was a perfect symbol of just how vulnerable we were.

"Have you tried to get anything on Orton?" My lips thinned when the two-toned man shook his head. In the last two days Seth and I have been talking extensively about how we lost the one person we could trust, but at least our brotherhood was still together. I fixed my gaze back to the man in the bed, thinking about what our next move was.

_Do we run or do we fight?_

I knew in my mind that the battle lines had been drawn and the world was waiting to see which side of it The Shield stood on. Perhaps we needed to draw our own, shut everyone else out and shoulder each other. We were a perfect balance. Seth's dexterity, Dean's intelligence, and of course my strength. What one lacked the other picked up for the other, and had no problems in doing so. This is why Randy called us the heart of Special Ops, no...we were the heart of the entire Alliance. We represented what it should be. A perfect union designed to protect one another and the interests, not this game of power and deception.

Seth said nothing only sipped on his own drink staring at Dean more than likely running his own thoughts. That was just how he was, and I didn't mind it. Something about the smaller man always intrigued me when we was lost in thought. The way his brows furrowed, his brown eyes just a mix of worry and compassion. He carried his own shroud of mystery but not to keep things out, but instead he wore it like a badge of honor. Both Tyler Black and Seth Rollins were proud of who they were, that was just an unspoken truth.

The air between us was so heavy it was practically suffocating, however there was something I needed to get off my shoulders. "I'm sorry for your loss, Seth." I don't know why I said it, I know seeing the state that Dean was in was painful, but I felt like it needed to be said. I was unsure how long it'd take him to recover from losing someone so close.

I've seen that killer instinct look in his eye before but never had I seen it in action. It was probably one of the most terrifying things I'd ever seen. I'll remember in the future that if our enemies ever wanted to see something horrifying: just give Seth a katana. He was usually collected and quiet, for him to suddenly act so emotion driven backed by an unbridled fury was nothing like I'd ever seen before. There was just so much to Seth I just didn't know, but never will I ever think of underestimating him. He used the blade as a complete extension of himself. Special Ops and more so Dean and I were lucky that he was on our side. The way he fought, he could probably go toe to toe with Colonel Styles...probably even win.

He took another sip of his drink, "Thank you. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to catch up." The smaller man gave a deep sigh. "I lied to you, Roman. Curtis was my best friend, and my first one when I came to Astros, but we were more than just friends." I raised my eyebrow at him. He did mention that the two of them used to date, but I guess this is why he said he lied. Did he lie about the two of them dating? "He was my most successful partner."

He shifted his gaze away from Dean and turned towards me. There was a very stern look his his large chocolate colored orbs, and yet there was lots of conviction as well. "Three years ago, we pulled off the heist at the Museum of Paragon History." I hung my head processing what Seth said. But I could not judge him, after all I had welcomed him as my brother knowing that he had assassinated his own king. "I've been thinking about this all day today, and I feel like both you and Dean deserve to know why I felt the need to steal it."

Suddenly Seth's spot in this loop of madness was beginning to make sense. Although he was captured and tried only on the assassination, powers from behind the scenes wanted to follow him to lead them to The Eye. "Oh god…" were the only words that fell from my mouth. My brain was beginning to put the puzzle together piece by tiny piece. "Listen to me, Seth...we can't let The Eye anywhere near Dean."

I looked over to see only curious chocolate orbs panned in my direction. He was clearly at a loss at what I said, but trying to explain it might be harder than I realize. I know that he didn't want to keep a secret from our brother, and with the Atlean's hearing it was nearly impossible to hide anything from him. Once he was awake we could no longer have or speak of this conversation ever again. My heavy sigh caught the youngest's attention. "Roman?"

"Dean Ambrose may just be the most dangerous man on Paragon right now." I leaned forward in my chair with my elbows resting on my thighs and my hands rested under my chin. My focus was on the man sleeping on the hospital bed. "Think about it Seth, knowledge is power correct?" I watched the two-toned man nod from the corner of my eye. "Doctor Kelic Ambrose, was the leading scientist on the human genome...and if Lesnar had that much power from just a fraction, imagine how he'd be if the project was complete. Remember this is also coming from an overseer of the project."

"A fraction?" spoke up Seth clearly in disbelief. It didn't surprise me that he was shocked. He still was new to most of this, and his background didn't exactly allow him research human genetics extensively. We only had Dean to rely on for that. I know that the auburn haired man would be able to shed more light than I could, I could only speak as a man from the other side of the looking glass. "The agonizing pain we went through only to be a fraction of what we could be. Then what's Heyman's goal in the end?"

I shifted my gaze back to the Mereian. "More than likely...control of Paragon. He'll use the success of Project: Taladan to show the military just how much-" I was cut off by the sound my of my cell phone ringing off the hook. I pulled the device out of my pocket to see that it was a call from Becky. I had almost forgotten that I had given her my number, but reminded her to only call me at this number only if it was an emergency. I had hoped that she'd never have to call me, but here she was.

I pushed the button to answer the call, she sounded like she was out of breath. _"Roman? Thank goodness!"_ she said quickly with very little downtime between words. _"I have a small problem, I need you to come down to the restaurant as soon as possible."_ She quickly hung up causing me to give another deep sigh. It was just one thing after another, and nothing seemed to be letting up anytime soon.

"That was Becky. She's got an emergency, get your crutches." I said to Seth. I gave Dean one last glance before rising to my feet. It was probably going to be a while before he wakes up. I felt like today was going to drag on.

**~~~***~~~**

We were lucky that we were at a hospital in Cassiopeia, and just as lucky that Cassandra was willing to play chaperone for us. Seth nor myself were in any condition to drive. The two of us entered the restaurant when a pair of fair skinned arms found their way around my neck. Becky was on her toes trying her best to give me a bear hug. "What's the emergency?"

She looked down. The fiery haired woman looked exactly like Seth when we were back at the hospital. Did everyone just seem to know when we got our asses beat? There was was a different air about her uncertainty.

Becky said nothing but instead stepped aside. I could have sworn I felt my heart skip a beat at the sight I was looking at. Either I was dreaming or I was out longer than I thought. But right there was Becky's cousin that she loved more than life itself sitting in one of the booths. He had fair skin just like her, with dark brown hair and a scruffy neck beard to go with it. His pale green eyes were looked glazed over with his hands clasped together on the table.

Finn looked like he was in rough shape. He had splotches of dirt on his face or even a bruise I couldn't tell. He looked pretty skinny like he hadn't been eating properly and hardly touched his food in front of him. I turned to Seth who shifted uncomfortably on his crutches. From what I understood, First Lieutenant Finn Bálor, was one of the test subjects from the Astros research facility to the one in Luna. How did he get, and here I such a short time? I looked at Becky again who had a very pleading look on her face. She was practically begging us to help her cousin.

"We can't help him until Dean wakes up. Seth and I know basic first aid at best, he's the only one that can really explain what's going on with him." I explained trying to sound as apologetic as possible. She sighed looking defeated, and taking a place next to her cousin letting him lean his head on her shoulder. I watched the two of them, and the absolute care she had for her cousin as she placed a gentle kiss on his temple for reassurance. Finn on the other hand just looked so broken. He hadn't said a word or looked at anyone since we had arrived. He just looked like he was letting the world shift around him, with his gaze never leaving his clasped hands on the table. Whatever they did to him in Luna made him rough for wear, and yet some how he had the wherewithal to find his way back to his beloved.

I watched as Charlotte helped Seth into the booth across from Finn and Becky. He too tried to get a read on the thin man's condition but couldn't get anything. As the tall blonde woman leaned his crutches against the edge of the booth, he looked at me and shook his head. To Seth, Finn was so far gone...his mind warped. It shattered my heart seeing it, and realizing that there may have been something far beyond humane than I'd like to think. The worst part was thinking about how all of it was approved by the same Alliance I'd sworn to protect. I let out a steady huff trying to keep my emotions in check. 

The bell above the door jingled signaling someone walking in, and to my surprise I recognized that familiar leather flak jacket. He didn't even bother to look at anyone in the room just more or less mumbling to himself as if nothing was going on. His auburn hair was in a matted mess, and just sat down in the same booth as Seth with the Mereian just scooting over just letting him in. I watched as the two-toned man flinched as the flat right sleeve of Dean's jacket brushed against Seth. The Atlean walked around with his own tempo. He knew he was missing an arm, but acted like nothing happened. Also, how did he get his jacket on with only one arm? The world will never know.

"He's obviously suffering from some sort of psychological trauma. Similar to the state I had just woken up from. Which only means to me, that whatever kind of testing they were doing to them in Luna was obviously more than what happened to us in Astros. Furthermore, he somehow made his way here...which means he's still coherent and not completely lost. So really…" he paused to look at Becky and smiled. "He'll be fine. My doctor's recommendation is that just let him have some rest and keep a close eye on him. He also looks a little malnourished, make sure he eats even if he says he's not hungry."

"How long ago did you wake up? How'd you get here? How'd you get your-" I watched as Dean reached over to cover Seth's mouth before he could ask anymore questions. There was a chance the Atlean was still tired himself and didn't feel like being bombarded.

"No more little brother," he stated firmly. He looked around and then his gaze suddenly settled on Finn's hardly touched food. He suddenly had a grin on his face. "I'm starving." His blue eyes wandered around some more before settling on me. "How long was I out? I feel like I was hit by a truck, like a massive one that tends to scream and give no mercy." Was he describing Brock? Just what was running through Dean's mind, I felt like that was one mystery that'd never be solved.

I noticed that all the girls and even Seth had a very horrified look on their face. The two-toned man flinched earlier not expecting it, but after a careful observation you could clearly see that the right sleeve of Dean's jacket was flat. The damage that Brock had done to the Atlean was real. Just by looking at his jacket sleeve, you could tell that from the middle of his bicep down there was nothing there. Seth of course knew what had happened but how were we supposed to explain this to the girls. Furthermore, how were we supposed to tell Becky that this may be related to her cousin's resurfacing.

Charlotte slammed her fist against the table catching everyone's attentions. "You boys are going to tell me what happened right now! First Seth walks in with crutches, Roman you're taped up to where a mummy can get jealous, and now Dean." The blonde sat down in the chair next to her looking completely exasperated and tears beginning to well in her eyes. I looked around at the other girls seeing they were sharing the same look. I even noticed Sasha walked over and turned their open sign to closed. It seemed like the girls were ready to have a serious talk. Charlotte had her hands over her face choking on sobs she was trying to hold in. "Every time you boys leave, we get scared. We know it's your job to face danger from a day to day basis but what happens when you don't come back? Just look at the state you guys are in!"

Bayley walked over and placed her hands on Charlotte's shoulders and rubbed them gently trying to calm her down. "Miss Charlotte…" Seth started, taken back by the emotions that had filled the room. "We're sorry. A lot has happened lately. We'd love to tell you what's going on but...not even we're sure what's happening ourselves."

"We've been caught in a crossfire we're not even sure we can get out of. We're dealing with the third Prime Minister of the Faliashian Alliance," I turned to Dean surprised at how he knew what we were dealing with. He glanced back at me noticing my look, "Roman...I grew up on the streets of the City of Knowledge, not under a rock. But my point stands," he stopped to take a deep breath. "Heyman is willing to use us as a scapegoat...no he needs us to be his scapegoat. It's why he didn't have his muscle man kill us. He wanted to break us, let us know that there were powers to be stronger than us. He needs us to take the heat for something, and I don't think it's the Prime Minister's kidnapping, there's gotta be something else at play here. But the only thing we have to go by is Brock and Project: Taladen."

It didn't seem like he had caught on to what I was trying to tell Seth earlier, but it was clear he was thinking about it. Dean was a genius, with an unpredictable personality, and that's what made him very dangerous. Right now Seth and I would have to focus on keep him and the Eye of Taladen separate. 

I watched as Seth looked back and forth between Dean and I. He looked like he had a small grin on his face, perhaps we weren't as broken as Heyman wanted us to believe. This was one of those moments where we were all one the same page. "Heyman doesn't understand we are the Hounds of Justice." For once it was Seth becoming infectious to us that just went to show how comfortable we were with one another.

But he mentioned the Hounds of Justice. He was reminding us and the girls who we were, and Dean was right. Heyman had tried to break our spirits, but it was obvious that it didn't work. I looked over at the girls who looked all mostly in shock. Perhaps they were surprised at just how indomable we were. We were truly unbreakable as long as we were together, especially Dean. Seth and I could recover from our injuries, but he could not. If there was anyone who was showing a complete display of strength it was him.

"What's your plan then?" asked Bayley who looked like she was trying to hold it together, but the look on her face meant she was clearly in distress. The girls were worried about us plain and simple. Not only had I grown close with Seth and Dean in the seven months we've been together, but we too were close to the girls. They gave us friendship and something to come home to. Although we were brothers, we had grown close to the girls to where they could be our sisters. If I was being honest, I felt terrible. We didn't offer them anything in return. They worried about us anytime we had a mission and we had only proven their worries, and with the sudden appearance of Becky's cousin didn't help with that worry.

The room was suddenly quiet as we all stood around thinking about Bayley's question. At the moment we didn't have a plan, we were at the stage of recovery. There wasn't much we could do with Seth's leg in the state that it was in, not to mention getting a prosthetic for Dean. We were cornered but people tend to forget that a cornered enemy is the most dangerous. "You guys are a symbol of hope. While I was in confinement I heard the soldiers and scientists talk a lot about The Shield. They said that you guys were living proof that the project was a success." We all turned our attentions to Finn. Something we said must have triggered something in him. Like a memory relapse or something, but it also proved that Dean wasn't wrong when he said that the smaller man was still coherent. 

_Hope…_

Hope is what bring Finn back to Becky, and it's what's going to get us through this. For such a simple word it gave meaning to those without. They clung onto life with it, and gave them resolve in this small almost war torn world. If what Bálor said was true, then there was a chance that the people in the facility in Luna were beginning to have second thoughts, but there had to be something I was missing. The state that Finn had come back in meant that the testing was beyond inhumane. I scrubbed my face with the palms of my hands just trying to think of all the various scenarios of what was happening at the moment. "I think our plan for now is recovery."

I saw Bayley's melancholy look turn into something a little more beaming after hearing that. Perhaps it was best to lay low at the moment, and just give the girls some reprieve. Seeing Charlotte react the way she did was heartbreaking. We truly didn't know how much she cared about us until now, and it really was a relief to see. This entire time we thought ourselves to only believe that, other than Orton, no one else cared for us, but I saw that we couldn't have been further from the truth. We not only had out brotherhood, but we now also had sisters. It made me think just how many others wanted our safety.

We watched a close friend of Seth's die in his arms, and Dwayne always asked us to come back in one piece whenever we left for a mission. They cared about us, and we gave them nothing in return. I was now starting to see that we were wrong. We gave them hope. Perhaps that's why the Prime Minister wanted to meet us, to see what the buzz was around us. She just wanted to see it for herself. It was an interesting way to describe us, but certainly not unwelcomed. It made me wonder who else believed in us.

**~~~***~~~**

After talking with the girls some more, I called Cassandra to come take us back to the hospital, and thanks to Dean I can finally say I've seen a grown man throw a fit like a child. He hated hospitals even though he himself was a doctor and a leading scientist. I rode in the front of the car with the lovely nurse while my brothers sat in the back just staring out the windows. "Cassandra, how long until Seth is off crutches?"

"It's a miracle Seth avoided any severe nerve damage. To be honest he shouldn't be walking at all, but the fact that he is means he's got to be one of the luckiest men on Elysium." she explained with a bright smile on her face. I don't know what it was about her, but when ever we saw the brunette nurse she was always smiling. I wasn't sure if it was relief, or she was generally happy to see us. "He should be off them in a few weeks, then he'll walk around with a limp for a bit. But as long as his physical therapy goes well he might be good to go even sooner."

Dean who didn't look like he was trying to engage at all in the conversation just continued staring out the window. He was definitely thinking about something and the Atlean had his various expressions to know when he was in deep thought. With how his brows furrowed and one corner of his mouth lowered into a frown you knew he was thinking about something he doesn't like, but I had to be sure. "Dean, are you okay?"

The middle brother groaned as he leaned back in the seat. He looked troubled be something, and it probably had something to do with whatever it was he was thinking about. I watched in the rearview mirror as he used left arm to shove off the leather apparel from his shoulder. Both Seth and I looked horrified at what we saw, I almost wish I was looking at a dream, but Dean's right arm from his bicep down was nothing but empty space. "I need to do something about this, and I'm not going to settle on just a regular prosthetic." We all looked at him rather confused, and I felt like there was more to this than I'd like to believe. That's probably why he was thinking as hard as he was moments ago, but what else could he do that was beyond a regular prosthetic?

He tapped his collarbone, auburn haired man was up to something. "You guys heard me. I'm going to use this to my advantage, but I need to return to Atlas to do it." I never thought I'd hear those words coming from Dean's mouth, I don't think any of us was going to hear that. He looked like he had more to say about it though. "I have an old friend I need to see, Gale Teegan."

The car suddenly came to a screeching halt. The sounds of shifting leather upholstery filled the silent car as Cassandra turned in her seat to look at Dean with wide eyes. "Teegan? As in former military weapons designer Teegan? He's a "friend"?!" she sounded absolutely disbelief. "Dean if you hadn't proved to me already your extensive medical ingenuity and understanding of human biology, I'd have a hard time believing someone who grew up on the streets of Atlas knows such a variety of people. But time and time again you continue to leave me in utter disbelief. You truly are a piece of work, Ambrose just like your mentor."

I listened as Dean only chuckled in response followed by a grin. It must be a hard decision to return to the place you dread. I know that whenever you ask him about the City of Knowledge, he'd avoid talking about it or anything he said about Atlas would be met with malice. From the little he's talked about he's had a rough childhood, and lives his life the way he does because of tragedy. I never would have thought he'd actually give himself a reason to go back to Atlas, but desperate times calls for desperate measures.

He was going to see arguably one of the best weapons designers of all time, and what's worse is that Dean knows him on such a casual level. What exactly was Dean up to? That seemed to be a constant today, at least the Atlean was consistent. I knew that Dean was probably uncomfortable going back to his hometown but he seemed to be in control. He seemed to know what it was he wanted from this weapons designer. I worried about what he wanted from the weapons designer and what it had to do with his missing arm.

**~~~***~~~**

The air in Atlas was different from that in Astos. I didn't realize the atmosphere would be so different just from being on the opposite end of the main city. But the City of Knowledge really did prove why the Celestial providence was the biggest of the seven provinces of Paragon. The buildings were just as tall and the streets just as busy. If it wasn't for the odd smell in the air and the constant sounds of sirens I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Atlas and Astros.

The three of us walked down the street constantly looking over our shoulders. At least Seth and I were, Dean just walked down the street with a scowl. He was not happy to be back at all. He probably wanted to forget about that he was from here considering everything that has happened. Our middle brother even insisted that Seth carry around his batons and even himself carried Ceadeus over his shoulder, which I'm still unsure how he plans on wielding the long weapon with only one arm.

"Dean, where are we going?" whined the youngest, more than likely overwhelmed by the atmosphere once again. He only ever saw a small portion of Astros, but Atlas was more active than Astros. You could tell by the worn out cement we walked on, there was a crack on the walkway every few feet and even the street was littered in potholes. But according to Dean this was just the outer rims of the city. He mentioned that the closer you got to the university the less mundane it got. There was a common among the people of Atlas, is that they all protected the university.

Dean didn't respond but only continued walking. Not knowing where we're going we just continued to follow him down this street that's seen better days. I noticed several buildings we've passed had at least one or two broken windows, and several more with boarded doors. If we were ordinary people we probably wouldn't even consider walking this street, being soldiers and even more so super powered ones has it's advantages. We were three men dressed in black tactical gear and clearly looking armed, I don't think the dregs wanted to risk it.

We eventually followed Dean who turned a corner down an alleyway finding ourselves walking between two brick buildings. I scrunched my nose up at the putrid smell of the alley. There was all kinds of trash against the sides, I even had to kick a dumpster out of the way. But the one thing I noticed most of all about this city is that even though we were in the slums, the people fought to survive and it reflected a lot as to why Dean acted and fought the way he did.

When we came out of the alley way we turned right passing by a set of huge garage doors to a large gray colored building. It was made of brick and reminded me of the research facility back in Astros. After passing by the gleaming doors we came to a smaller black colored grate door, where I could see a set of carpeted steps on the other side. Dean swung the door open and started up the stairs bringing us to a narrow hallway that had dark wooden doors on both sides and heavy stench of cigarette smoke in the air.

We continued down the hall until we reached the end. Seth seemed to be distracted with covering his nose from the smell that he jumped when Dean started pounding on the door we stopped at. "You drunk asshole, open up! It's Jon!" Did all Atleans greet one another like this or was it just Dean? He continued pounding on the door but still go no response. I watched as he turned to me with that mischievous grin on his face. "Break it down, Big Dog."

Seth eyes seemed to widened at our middle brother's sudden idea. "Dean, are you sure he's just not-" The youngest suddenly stopped in mid sentence realizing he was asking. More than likely the Atlas native of our group could probably hear him from the other side. He sighed in defeat. Seth was normally our voice of reason, and there were times where there's just no reasoning with Dean Ambrose. The two-toned man just stepped away from the door not wanting to argue as Dean did the same.

I raised my foot and kicked the door thoroughly breaking it off it's hinges. I watched as suddenly there was an older man scrambling to get off his recliner obviously startled, "God damnit! I told ya you're gonna get your money tomorrow! You ain't gotta break down my door!" shouted the man as he spoke with accent similar to those came from Pegasus. He quickly grabbed something off the entertainment center in front of him. Seth placed a hand on a baton expecting a gun but instead they were just a pair of glasses.

He was an older looking man with a long gray beard that went down to the middle of his neck. His hair was a short curly mess on his head that matched his beard in color. He wore a red flannel shirt under his black coveralls that was obviously covered in grease, and his yellow work boots that looked like he'd seen better days. There was no way this could have been the former weapons designer from the military, the stench of alcohol rung too heavy in the air, and the evidence was quite clear. There wasn't a surface in this small entrance that didn't have an empty bottle of alcohol or two.

He looked up adjusting the glasses on his face. I watched as suddenly green eyes beamed in delight. "Jon Moxley has returned to Atlas!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yet another character from the original story, and one of my favorites too. The emotional roller coaster isn't done yet ;o


	6. The City of Atlas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explore the world where Jon Moxley grew up...
> 
> And why Dean Ambrose never looks back.

"Jon Moxley has returned to Atlas!" exclaimed the old man running up to Dean giving him a bear hug. I was still having a hard time believing this clumsy old man could have been Gale Teegan one of the best weapons manufacturers The Alliance has ever seen. But that still begged the question: how was Dean in contact with him? What a strange small world we lived in. "What brings you back to this trash heap of a city?" He looked up at Seth and I raising an eyebrow. "And why does the company you keep look better than you?"

I watched him release Dean from the grip he held on him. "Where are your manners, Boy? Get them some damn coffee!" The middle man sighed and shifted shrug off his jacket from his right shoulder to show Gale the stub that was now his right arm. Now in a normal case someone would be horrified seeing Dean's arm and the state it was in, but this loud mouth old man only seemed to break out in a boisterous laughter. "Coulda sworn you had a right arm when you left, but I guess you wouldn't be Moxley if you weren't in some sort of trouble. But I shoulda guessed when y'all in trouble when you kicked my door down."

Gale turned his attention to Seth, who was grinning like a madman and I think I was beginning to understand where Dean got his mannerisms. "You Boy! Make us some damn coffee...and you," he shouted looking at me. "Fix my door you damned brute! I don't need my nosy as hell neighbors knowing how much I drink." He sat back down in his gray colored recliner with questionable upholstery giving a deep breath. "I'm getting too old for this."

Although Seth was used to Dean's mannerisms, he's probably never experienced someone who had the same only amplified. If he thought our middle brother was bad, Gale here was on another level. The youngest stood there frozen for a moment just processing and trying to get a grasp on why this old man was loud and energetic. After a moment Seth snapped out of what ever trance he was in responding with a polite bow, and earned a raised eyebrow from Gale. "My name is Seth Rollins, sir."

Gale scratched his beard in thought eyeing Seth up and down. Who knew what the old man was thinking right now. I highly doubt that he's ever met someone with manners. "Rollins? Why does that sound familiar?" responded the elder mostly mumbling to himself. I felt like our time spent with this man was going to be a long haul. His attentions snapped back to reality so suddenly. "Nice to meet you, Seth...now make us some damn coffee. I gotta look at the damage done to Mox." He finished before standing up once more and disappearing down the hall of his apartment.

Seth and I looked at one another and shrugged. He escaped off into the small kitchen digging through the unorganized cabinets looking for coffee grounds and filters while Dean and I looked around the messy living room looking for tools to fix the door with. I turned my attentions to Dean as he was looking up and down the entertainment center, "Dean, is that old man really Gale Teegan?"

"Yep. And those huge garage doors is his workshop. Everyone who lives in this building works for him. Gale takes kids off the street all the time and teaches them basic engineering. Most of those kids then move on to the university to finish their education. He's a good man despite how eccentric he can be." He explained pulling out a tool kit from under the still questionable recliner.

"Were you one of the kids he took in?" asked Seth from the kitchen who looked like he was getting four mugs ready. The smell of fresh coffee from the machine was beginning to fill the air and drown out the stale alcohol scent.

Dean nodded to answer Seth's question. If what he said was true then our middle brother owed a lot of the old man. "He tried to teach me engineering, but I just didn't get it and that's when he introduced me to Doctor Ambrose. He and the good doctor were friends at the time and he was looking for an apprentice. Gale hooked me up with the job for the good doctor, there's so much I owe to the old fart." I couldn't help but notice the Atlean had such an attitude change. He sounded grateful and compassionate, which was vastly different from how he was since we arrived.

Seth chuckled lightly from the kitchen as he brought out a small tray with four mugs of steaming hot coffee. "How about you start with some manners? Calling him an old fart isn't a way to treat your elder especially with how he's taken you in." I have a feeling Seth's words might be a lost cause on our middle brother. By now he should know just how crass he can be, even he knew that it helped with interrogations.

"Moxley? Manners? Who are you kidding, boy?" Gale came strutting out from the hallway probably picking up on our conversation. I took a cup of coffee from the tray that Seth brought over, he then moved over to the old man who looked confused at first but took the cup from the youngest's tray. I'd imagine he was still confused at just how polite the Mereian was. "Mox can learn a thing or two from you." he took a sip of the cup of the bitter drink and his eyes seem to light up. "That's some damn good coffee, boy."

Gale sat down with his mug in hand on his recliner with a deep sigh. He turned his attentions to Dean who was leaning against a wall tapping away at his collarbone. The auburn haired man seemed quite focused on staring out the window thinking about what it ever Dean thinks about on a daily basis. The old man wiped the sweat off his brow. He was focused on our middle brother as if he was just giving him a moment of silence as he sorted out his thoughts. Gale didn't need to say anything, which went to show that he knew Dean better than Seth and I. After a few minutes of eerie silence he took another sip of his coffee, "You thinking about your mother, Mox?" Dean slowly nodded in response. "Go and see her. I'm sure she'd like to see that her baby boy is all grown up." The Atlas native remained silent and only gave a another nod in response. It seemed like the old man had hit the nail on the head with Dean as the auburn haired man pushed himself off the wall and out the doorway being careful of the fallen door.

The elderly man then turned gave us his undivided attention, "Go with him, his mother's grave isn't the only one there." He leaned back in that recliner and chuckled, "Quite the name to pick...Dean Ambrose. I've never seen someone who so determined to move forward and yet he clings onto the past. But it isn't a bad thing I guess, he's changed a lot...I guess I have you two to thank for that." The elder man cracked a small smile. It seemed like the relation between the old man and our middle brother ran deeper than what we knew. "It seems like only yesterday that Jon left for Astros to see the Eye of Taladen himself. Things are happening too fast for this old man, but that boy will always be Moxley to me. And before you boys ask, I can read dog tags."

Seth and I quietly left the small apartment in hopes that Dean didn't get too far ahead of us.

**~~~***~~~**

We hadn't spotted Dean yet. Luckily for us Gale had stopped and told us to just travel up the road and we'd eventually run into the cemetery. Once our middle brother had his head cleared the old man would see about whatever crazy request the auburn haired man wanted. Seth and I just followed the road surprised just how far ahead the Atlas native had already gotten.

We had continued walking until we passed by a flower shop. I took note of the familiar leather flak jacket leaning against the wall with a bouquet of flowers in his good hand. He looked up at us looking unsure, that just seemed to be floating around us. Perhaps he didn't want us to see how he was really feeling. He seemed to be lost in deep thought ever since arriving and showed no signs of stopping any time too soon. There had to be so many depressing memories surfacing in the forefront of his mind especially now that he was going to his mother's grave. He looked down at the flowers, "Sorry for getting so eager. I wanted to make sure I got her favorites."

I noticed the bouquet was mostly made of white and yellow flowers. It was bright colors and shapes that could remind one of a charming smile. If these were his late mother's favorites then she must have been a heartwarming woman. From the little that Dean has spoken about her, it seemed to be like she was his bright light and the flowers certainly did reflect that. This was a softer side of Dean I'd never seen before. The closest to this was back at the office building when he was caring for the small child. The Atlean moved his head as a signal to follow him, since apparently we weren't going very far.

As we walked I couldn't help but noticed we walked by a newspaper stand. I caught a glance of the header from the one up front, it caused me to stop dead in my tracks. I walked up to the stand and quickly paid the man a couple dollars to pick up the paper from the stand. Seth and Dean stood at my sides reading it with me.

**Luna Research and Pegasus Training Stations Attacked!**

We were all stunned by the amount of detail in the article. It started with the incident in Ursa Minor mentioning also when I had Brock ordered to be moved, thankfully my name wasn't mentioned. It went on about how after the incident Bristol had shut down the project and had the test subjects moved from the Astros Medical Research Lab to the Luna Biometrics Research and Development Facility. I couldn't help but notice there was no mentioning of Project: Taladen and that the test subjects were innocently renamed as "patients". The long article continued mentioning the first assassination attempt on Orton and even went on about the mission to apprehend Mizanin and that the mission was the rise of The Shield.

The next part of the article talked about the recent attacks by Leviathan and and how we were the ones that thwarted every attack naming us a first response team. My breath hitched seeing the next part. The article gave a hint about how we didn't show up at Luna or Pegasus that we might be the ones behind the attacks and their reason being that we've not shown up since the attack.

The man at the stand saw our reactions and almost felt the need to speak up. "What do you think?" The three of us look at him with a confused look. "Do you guys think The Shield did it? I sure as hell don't. They protected us, and the methods used to attack Luna and Pegasus was different from the Leviathan attacks in Astros and Odin. From what I heard was that they were going after to save the kidnaped Prime Minister. I believe in The Shield." He had a very stern look in his pale blue eyes. He was serious about having faith in us.

"I think Alliances owes a great deal to the Shield. If it wasn't for them Leviathan would have their soldiers running around blowing us up from the inside. There's probably a chance that they'd already be all over the University." answered Dean as if he didn't know much about the Shield. He tried to speak in a way to sound like it was an innocent opinion from one Atlean to another. The two Atleans gave one another a cocky smirk, he was just giving the people a rally of hope. It also went to show that those on the other side of the looking glass had mixed opinions about our group.

I folded up the newspaper and tucked it under my arm, if keep it for now to see what other news we needed to catch up on. For now we'd go continue up the street. As we walked I noticed the spaces in between houses began to grow larger and larger, until we came to an open green field with rows of gray and white headstones. This must have been the cemetery where Dean's mother and mentor were buried. For two people he cared about to be buried and knowing that you had no one to come home to had to be hard. Perhaps it's why he showed such malice towards his hometown. I always thought it was because of the tragedy that had stuck him again and again, but the more time we spend here in the second biggest city in the Celestial Providence, the more I seem to learn about him.

We continued walking by the black fence still following Dean getting faster and faster. Was he eager to see the grave of his mother, or seeing the place was making him in a rush to leave? If this trip wasn't emotionally draining enough this would definitely leave us heavy. We turned into the entrance of the cemetery and began to follow a stone path that branched out in several different directions. I kept looking back and forth between the scenery and Dean as we walked. I figured at this point I'd find his shoulders slumped or even just that angry or nervous twitch in him. But all I saw was him walking with his head held high. The auburn haired man's was becoming more eccentric by the minute.

**~~~***~~~**

We kept walking down the path until finally we had turned left and left again into the grass passing by several headstones. Finally we came to a stop. The air around us was thick, the atmosphere was suffocating. This was it. Seth and I watched Dean kneel in front of the grave and place the flowers down. We just stood there watching our middle brother as he sat down in the grass in front of the grave. This was a sight to see, a very different side of a man we often liked to call lunatic.

"I'm back in Atlas." he started as if he were talking to someone. For now Seth and I would remain silent to give him his moment. "I'm not sure how to feel though, after you and the good doctor I didn't think I'd ever come back here, and yet here I am. Mostly in one piece." He pointed back at us with his thumb. "These two have been keeping me busy though, and why I'm minus one arm. But it wasn't all for nothing though. I wish I had the time to tell you all the things we've seen and all the things we've done. You'd be proud of the family we have now." He paused and sighed, this couldn't have been easy for him in the slightest. "Their names are Seth and Roman, we're taking care of each other now." He stood up and placed two fingers on his lips and then placed them on the grave as if he was giving his mother a kiss good bye. "I'm not sure when or if I'll ever be back, but no matter what happens I'll keep going...for you and the doctor."

He finally stood looking away from the grave and towards us. He said nothing to us but motioned for us to follow. Gale said that someone else's grave was here too, I'm assuming it was Doctor Ambrose. This day would forever be burned into the back of my mind. In this moment Dean was an entirely different person. He's the type of person to blaze his own trail and live life on his terms with his head held high. He's a man that spoke little, and preferred to show how he felt through actions and expressions, but in this moment he was a lot of things. His inner most emotions on full display the side of him locked and buried away now unearthing themselves one last time before he closed himself off for good. One last time will we see the side of Dean he left behind...the side of Jon Moxley.

We found ourselves back on the stone path and headed further into the grassy field. We kept going until we had stopped at another grave. This headstone was a little more decorated. It was a mixture of white and gray marbled together in the shape of an angel on a pedestal holding the staff with the twin snakes, and on the front was a bronze plaque that read:

_Kelic Ambrose_   
_A man dedicated to saving lives_

"Both him and Gale believed in the same thing. In order for Atlas to survive it's up to the next generation to pick up the teachings. I just wish there could be more like them." He sighed, but continued. "Atlas is a dying city. The ones who want to leave can't because they don't have money, and the ones that do are so terrified to leave their homes because the streets are so dangerous. Even I barely made it to Astros, it's a vicious cycle." I now understood why the Atlean hated his hometown. The people that can save the city won't and the ones that did try are now dead or forced to solitary like Gale. Atlas is an important city, they raise the fines of doctors and intellectuals, hell the man before us was proof that anything can happen here...was the line that separated the people so thick?

I always thought Dean was just mad at Atlas, but I think I knew a little better now. He wasn't mad at Atlas, he was angry with himself. He loves this city so dearly, but he knows that he can't do anything to help the people. That's why he avoids conversation about it, or dodges around it. He doesn't want to be reminded of just how helpless he feels. That's why he chose the the symbolic name that he did. He wanted to carry on the doctor's work. Not just his research but the want to return and finally help Atlas prosper. That's why he was so willing to join the military, even though he's made it clear that he's not fully content with doing so.

Just as he did with his mother's grave, he gave the doctor's the same loving gesture of the good bye kiss. "I've seen enough here. My love for cemeteries are about as equal as they are for hospitals." He quickly turned around facing away from the doctor's grave. He looked away for a moment not wanting to show us the true emotions in his eyes. He first reached out to place a hand on our younger brother's shoulder, but the younger man beat him to it and yanked his arm in pulling the middle brother into a tight hug. That caring side of the Mereian on full display once more he wanted to show Dean more than ever that we were there for him. With his one arm he finally hugged Seth back and the two stood there for a good few minutes. Although there was the emotion in the Atlean's eyes, he dared not shed a tear.

**~~~***~~~**

We left the cemetery in quiet fashion and headed back down the street to get back to Gale's workshop. I still wondered what was Dean's plan exactly and what he needed a weapons designer for. I opened my mouth to ask-

"Holy crap! Mox you really are back." I was quickly cut off just as we were passing the newspaper stand again. The three of us turned around and I could have sworn I've never seen the auburn haired man's face light up the way it was now. This must have been another blast from his past, I felt like this was going to happen often today. We turned towards the sound and owner of the voice. The man man looked to be about the same age as Dean. He had a slightly larger build than Dean with pitch black hair and dark colored eyes. He opened up his arms and the two gave a quick hug. "I can't believe you're back in Atlas. You look great, man the years away have done you some good."

The middle of our trio gave a shrug, probably acknowledging the compliments but didn't have much to say about them. "Seeing as you're not dead yet Sami means you've been taking good care of yourself as well." Seth and I watched as they exchanged a laugh. I couldn't help there was that nervous twitch in our younger brother again. More than likely thinking about his now deceased friend. "I assume you heard from the old fart then."

"Actually I was about to head over to Gale's workshop when I heard from the flower shop owner." The young man, Sami, looked over Dean's shoulder towards Seth and I. He offered his hand out to us to shake, "I didn't think Mox would meet people once he left, you guys must have left some sort of impression on him. I'm Sami Callihan, Mox and I go way back. We've been friends since we were kids. Been through everything together from studying under Gale and even cage fighting together." Cage fighting? Well we're just learning an awful lot about Dean and Moxley apparently. I've heard the underground cage fights before, and nothing good.

The rumors I heard were they were fighting tournaments and nothing but pure bloodbaths by the end of them. People paid good money to get in, and took home the pot when they won, and according to said rumors they were good amount of pocket change. If that's really what our middle brother used to do before he came to Astros, then it serves how he got the money to do so and it also explains the raw instincts and adrenaline he fights every battle with. I tried not to think about the things that Dean could have possibly have been involved with alongside this dark haired man, and instead just took his hand and shook it. "Roman Reigns, and he's Seth Rollins." introducing ourselves as he shook each of our hands.

He remain quiet for a moment, just getting a good look at us. If this man was indeed involved with those dangerous cage fights, then he knew downed men when he saw us. His expression turned into a frown, he truly did figure us out instantly. "The way you guys move, and for the fact that Mox's only got one arm...I can assume you're not back in Atlas to sight see, and I wouldn't blame you either. People don't come to this city...they usually want to leave it. Ever since you left man, I've been so worried about you. You haven't even tried to contact anyone. Did you find that thing you were looking for in Astros?"

Dean shook his head, and I could have sworn I heard Seth's breath hitch. He had something suddenly hit him in the face with the his eyes widened. It was the usual look on the youngest's face when he had a sudden realization. "Dean." he said catching both our middle brother's and Sami's attention. "Remember when you asked me back at the research facility how long I had been in Astros? I think I've figured you out now. You left Atlas to go find the Eye of Taladen didn't you?" Where was Seth going with this line of questioning? But with the way Dean nodded there had to be more to this when what I saw on the surface. "Then it was you I met that day." Wait Seth and Dean had met before...I looked at Dean as both myself and Sami looked at him with the most confused look on our faces.

"I only pretended like I didn't know you. But the fact of the matter was, I do remember that day. I asked you what you thought of the Eye and you responded by telling me that it was a dangerous tool of man. That ironically was the same day of the heist, the heist you pulled." I only watched as Seth looked down and Dean grew that cocky smirk. I was taken back myself, I had my suspicions on how they caught Seth but this was only furthering my suspicions and the youngest's reaction only meant that the Atlas native may have been right. "I didn't see you steal the Eye, but the way you move, your acrobats, your flexibility, and dexterity...no ordinary man could have pulled off that heist. The thief covered their tracks to where no one could get any evidence on who it was that stole the Eye, but I guess they can't get evidence on someone who's never been seen in the providence at all. You're also an ex-assassin, for how well they covered up...had to be done by a professional." Seth opened his mouth to say something in protest before being cut off by Dean again. "I'm not going to out you, little brother. First of all I've got more honor than that...and second of all I was there to steal the Eye myself."

All eyes were on Dean now who once again turned on his own charm and tune and acted as if nothing happened. He just opened Seth wide open leaving everyone speechless. I guess it take a thief to know a thief if he had really planned to steal the Eye of Taladen himself. But then, why would he be interested in a mythical object? Perhaps this went back to what I told Seth back in Cassiopeia about Dean being dangerous. He's a lot sharper than most people give him credit for and because of his background most people don't pay attention to how much he actually knows. To ordinary people, Jon Moxley was just a man who was lucky enough to escape the clutches of Atlas.

Sami began to look between the three of us, seeing the tension that was rising. A gust of cold air blew past us and I couldn't help but notice the sun begin to dip down behind some of the taller skyscrapers. "Night time is dangerous in Atlas. We can talk more at the old man's workshop." If Sami was headed for the workshop himself then could this young man also be one of the kids that he picked up along with Dean? There was just so much happening right now and being here in Atlas was opening whole new book wide open.

As we made our way back to the workshop I kept a close eye on Dean and Sami. It was just like how Seth was with Curtis. The two of them smiled their hearts away as they talked about everything and anything that came to mind. Being able to learn more about my younger brothers' pasts was changing my view on them in many ways. I didn't think Seth was capable of explosive passion and at the same time I hadn't realized that Dean was more closed off then he had given off.

**~~~***~~~**

We had finally made it back to the apartment only to find a small note hanging on the still doorless frame. "Meet me at the shop. Use that brute of yours to open the door, and bring Sami." Brute. That made me chuckle for a brief moment. Gale was how I saw my middle brother in thirty years. Dean signaled once more to follow him as we made our way back down the hall and down the stairs. He lead us back to the brick building with the gleaming doors. I got what they needed from here. I crouched down and slipped my fingers under the padding of the door. With almost no effort I was able to lift the thin metal garage door high enough for everyone to slip in and let it drop behind me.

Instantly I was in awe. The inside looked so much bigger than it did on the outside. The concrete floor was polished with small splotches of faded black, the walls had numerous tools and weapons more than likely in development or in testing as none of them looked familiar. Lines of shelves with numerous gadgets on them as far as the eye could see. Lastly what couldn't fit on shelves or walls were massive turbines and other large machinery that also looked unfamiliar. This was the workshop of Gale Teegan, one of the best engineers of Paragon...probably in all of Elysium.

"Welcome to the The Summit." said Dean with a grin. "We call it that since this is the summit of all the development of any kind of technology you can think of in The Alliance. You think the military keeps the good stuff...they got nothing on Gale. He's the best of the best." I was so in awe I nearly forgot to close the door behind me. I completely enamoured by this, but also confused. If this existed why didn't the military want the old man's services anymore? Was it truly because of age or did something happen between him and the government.

"I think I felt myself getting grayer for how long you boys took." called Gale from across the shop. Either impatience was something all Atleans had or it was yet another trait that the auburn haired man man picked up. Dean and Sami smiled seeing the old man on his feet with tools hanging from his belt. He had a blue pair of coveralls this time and some thick padded gloves on as well as a welding mask tipped upwards. "Anyway, I got everything started for ya, but I'm entrusting this project to Sami. Between his engineering and Mox's medical ingenuity I think you two got this." He had a smirk on his face looking at Sami. "You complete this boy...the university will have no choice but to keep an eye on you."

I watched Gale pull out a pair of keys and tossed them to Seth who caught it right out of the air. They looked just like a normal set of keys for an apartment. Even had a number etched into one of them probably the number of the apartment. "This is probably going to be an all nighter for both Sami and Mox. Those are to one of the spare apartments, I keep that one in particular empty just in case someone needs a place to stay for the night. Don't worry about expenses either, you're friends of Mox and not to mention I own the building. The only favor I ask of you guys is to not worry, Jon wouldn't come back here if he was unsure what it was he wanted."

Asking us not to worry was only making us worry more, but at this point we had no choice. Both Gale and Sami seem to know what they were doing. Dean had trusted them without a second glance, seeing as this was his plan from the beginning. We had no choice but to trust them as well, and knowing that our middle brother trusted them was a bit of a nerve relaxer. Still I had wondered what they had planned. I guess there was no way of knowing until we saw the results. Seth and I turned around and I lifted the garage door once more. I looked up and saw why Gale needed me to open the door for them. I chuckled lightly seeing the reason. Of all of Gale's engineering genius he hadn't found the time to fix the broken winch. Which also made me wonder how he got in? Yet another mystery and probably another trait passed down from Gale to Dean.

We headed up to the marked apartment which was the very first door in the hall and the least terrible smelling. When he got inside it looked exactly the same as Gale's apartment aside from the smell and the awful mess. It was a typical drywall apartment, with a small kitchen to the left and straight across from the door was a small hallway leading to a door to the back. To the left was the small living room with a simple couch and small entertainment center with a pretty basic looking television with antennas on top. The place was absolutely spotless, which meant to me that Gale took care of others better than he took care of himself. Still made me dwell on what happened between him and the military. I finally gave the first yawn of the night, Seth's wasn't too long after.

We both headed for the bedroom in the back of the hall. Opening it up we saw that there was only one bed causing a short awkward silence between the two of us. It was quite a large bed, queen sized if I were to guess, but I wasn't sure how Seth would feel about it. If he were uncomfortable then I'd just move to the provided couch, but as the exhaustion was beginning to take over. I just wanted to get to bed at this point. It's been a long day and we still needed tomorrow to see the results of Sami and Dean's work. Before I could even think about it anymore I already saw Seth's gear neatly folded up onto one of the night stands and him shifting under covers to sleep on his side with his with a pillow against his back. This much have been his invitation that it was okay just as long as the barrier was there to keep us separate, it was the same when him and Dean had to share the bed back at the hotel room when we first arrived in Cassiopeia.

I did the same as the younger and then shifted under the comforter keeping my distance not wanting to make this anymore awkward than it already was. I felt myself drift off to sleep.

**~~~***~~~**

I was jolted awake by the pounding at the door which also seemed to stir Seth awake as well. There was a pause in the pounding before it started up again louder this time with the old man's voice on the other side. "Get up boys I got a job for you two." I looked over at Seth who looked like he had a hard time waking up, or just hated to be woken up so suddenly. I knew how slow he could be getting ready so for now I'd go see what the old man wanted. I hope we could also get some news about Dean's condition. I got dressed quickly throwing my hair into a quick messy bun before stepping out leaving the younger to do whatever it is he does upon waking up. Probably make a cup of coffee.

I stepped out of the door to a grinning Gale. The old man if anything was energetic in the morning, then again he seemed to be energetic all the time which was odd since the man smelled like stale alcohol most of the time. I opened my mouth to ask how Dean was but Gale already seemed to know what I was going to say before I could even speak. "Mox and Sami are resting right now. Those boys worked their asses off last night, but between both their creativity and young minds they created a piece of art that'll make them professors at the university jealous." He took a breath turning his full attentions to me. "Since you boys are military you have instant full access to the Library of Atlas. I need you boys to look into The Eye of Taladen, Mox kept mumbling about it in his sleep. When Kelic and I were your ages he'd go on and on about it like an obsession. I hope that he didn't pass that to Jon. Find out anything you can on it and once your brother wakes up I'm going to send him that way." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. I unfolded it seeing instructions on how to get there.

He dropped a bag off at my feet that looked like it was full of clothes. I'm assuming Gale didn't want us running around in tactical gear and sticking out like a sore thumb, and I didn't blame him. We were trying to lay low and it was just a habit for us to look like we were ready for a fight. It never occurred to me that the people of Atlas might be terrified of us. Even Sami had shown some hesitation and he was Dean's childhood friend. Probably why Gale decided to live here rather than Astros, he was close to the university and away from the grand central of the military. No words needed to be exchanged about the clothes I just walked back into the apartment once Gale walked back into his own living quarters.

I walked back into the smell of fresh coffee and Seth sitting down on the couch watching the television turned into the news. The reporters were arguing about whether or not The Shield was behind the incident in Luna. But still our names weren't mentioned nor anything that pointed to our identities. The argument was heated too, two argued on why we would suddenly turn on the people and the other side argued of luring the people into a false sense of security. It was Heyman's manipulations at work again and keeping our identities a secret was to keep the media on their toes and distracted away from Brock.

"These people make me sick. Loyalty is such a finicky thing and people are so quick to shift the blame especially when they don't have hard evidence. That's why Heyman targeted Randy. He knows that we didn't do it, so if they eliminate the witnesses they have no one to testify in our favor." Seth said finishing his coffee and putting the mug down on the coffee table in front of him. "We've risked life and limb countless times and this is the gratitude we get." I watched his hand ball up into a fist and pounded the table in front of him rattling the mug. "It's bullshit!" he screamed. I heard a soft sob from him. "What did we do wrong, Roman?"

I slowly walked over and sat down next to him and collecting the younger in my arms to comfort him. I wish I had an answer for him, but we both know the answer. We didn't do anything wrong, we were just the right team at the wrong time. There were shadows behind the scenes that didn't want us to succeed. I sighed and just let Seth rest his head on my shoulder until he was calm. "Gale wants us to look into The Eye of Taladen." I felt the nod on my shoulder before he pulled away.

He walked over to the bag and picked it up taking it into the bedroom. While he got dressed I decided to take a cup of coffee myself. After taking a sip I couldn't help but notice that there was always something calming about the way the younger man made his favorite drink. It made me begin to think that maybe his nerves were wound up all the time, especially with these recent events. He often liked to remind us that it made him think of home, and I wonder if there was a connection. After all he had come from Wyndmere, a country with a more simple life style than the high energy that was the Celestial Providence. Just like Dean when it came to his home and upbringings he was pretty much a closed book, but then why would he drink something everyday that reminded him of home. Personally, I thought it was something that went back to that veil of mystery he seemed to be constantly surrounded by.

If I didn't love Seth and Dean as my brothers, I'd find their want to keep their pasts a black shroud behind them concerning. But time and time again if anything they've proven their worth and their loyalty to The Alliance, Orton, and especially our brotherhood.

I heard the door open watching Seth walk out in a pair of dark jeans and a black long sleeved shirt both of which clung to his figure, and his hair tied back into a neat bun. Never understood why he insisted on wearing clothes that showed off his features, but to each their own. "There were a lot of different sizes in there, looks like the old man probably borrowed stuff from his students to see what would fit us." After finishing my coffee, I decided to get changed. It was rather difficult to find something that fit around my bulk but finally settled on something similiar to what Seth was wearing, with a pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt and with a dark blue hoodie. Once we were settled we headed out following the instructions on the paper to get to the Library of Atlas.

I still didn't understand why Gale wanted us to look into The Eye. Surely that'd be more up Dean's alley since he was more the studious type than the two of us. But then Gale's words echoed in my mind, reminding me that Doctor Ambrose's obsession with The Eye. I couldn't wrap my head around any of this, but perhaps it was making me think that there was more to just being caught in a crossfire. There was too much happening at once. Desmond warned me about biting off more than I could chew with the project originally, but if I had just sat back every time someone told me no...I wouldn't be here.

We came to the library taking a moment to observe it's zealous entry way. Two large dark wood doors with two pillars with etchings of vines and roses on both sides looking like they were holding up a globe of Elysium, and just above the globe was massive clock telling the current time. The entire block was the building looking down both left and right I could only see the front of the cream colored building. Every few feet had a stained glass window with another decorated pillar in between each one. This was certainly a complete turnaround from what we saw when we first came to Atlas, but this building alone said how much they valued knowledge over everything else in the large city.

Together we pushed open both the large doors only to come to a small foyer blocked off by a glass door and a security guard standing on the other side. To our left there was a woman in a behind a booth protected by a glass with a speaker on the front. "Welcome to the Library of Atlas," she greeted us pleasantly. She had long light brown hair and had blue eyes just like our middle brother, the signature of those from the City of Knowledge. "May I see your credentials please?" she asked pointing to the small slot in the glass just above the top of the booth. We both took our dog tags off and slipped them under the small hole. She took a moment to look over our dog tags which showed all our information our names, rank, and military branch: investigations. The young woman look a moment to look our dog tags over with a smile before handing them back under the same slot. She pushed a button on her counter and the glass slid down allowing us to enter. Of course there was the security guard waiting there with a metal detection wand waving it around both of us to make sure we had nothing else on us. Once we were clear we stepped past him and into the library itself.

And just like the outside of it, the inside was equally as massive. Above us was a grandiose chandelier and hardwood flooring that had matched the doors. To the right and left of us rows upon rows of tables with people reading or studying to be the intellects of tomorrow, and next to those tables massive rows of bookshelves separated occasionally by a set of stairs going to the next level. Never in my life had I been completely astounded, the whole place felt surreal and more like a massive ballroom than an actual library.

We had a long day ahead of us and hardly knowing what it was we were looking for was going to be a problem. After an hour of searching and asking the employees we came to realize almost all of the books located on the lower level were dedicated to medicine and medical practices, which in of itself blew my mind because I didn't even imagine there could been that many books about the subject. Seth actually managed to pick up a couple by Kelic Ambrose himself. After another hour we found more books on the history of Paragon and mythical legends. Sadly, we couldn't make the connection. Any book we found on the Eye only spoke briefly about the legend about it giving humans supernatural abilities, which was why the project was named after it.

We both sighed having gotten nothing and decided to head back. We were already getting late into the afternoon. One of the workers was kind enough to take the books back to where they belonged as we headed out. We both felt defeated, as we left the library having nothing to show for our efforts. We turned into the alleyway we passed through to get there stopping for a brief moment noticing the graffiti on the wall that looked like it was done with spray paint. I could have sworn it wasn't there before but the word spoke volumes.

_Believe_

It was interesting to say the least.

The sounds of crashing caught our attentions as we quickly found ourselves surrounded, a couple of them armed. I would have charged them but I needed to be fixated on protecting Seth. He wasn't in his gear so he didn't have a chance to completely disappear. With his leg in it's state he could walk around but he still didn't have a real means to fight. We slowly ended up back against the wall up against the graffitied wall.

It seemed instant but suddenly one of the thugs hand an arrow in his hand. The suddenness caught me by surprise as I didn't see another arrow whirl on by and nail another one in the shoulder. The thugs suddenly left Seth and I to charge Dean who stood there with a smirk on his face holding Ceadeus up. He flipped the switch on his weapon to change it back to it's staff form to nail one in the jaw with one of the ends. He quickly maneuvered his staff over his shoulder quickly to nail the same one over the head bringing him down.

The last one raised a gun out of his hoodie and pointed it at our middle brother wasting no time to pull the trigger. "Dean!" shouted Seth trying to give a warning. We were both left flabbergasted at the result. Dean simply raised his right arm to block the bullet only to see a small bullet hole in his favorite leather jacket but no damage done. He shrugged off his jacket letting it fall to the floor giving us the full view. Upon seeing it the thug quickly scampered away realizing he was out matched.

Where there was nothing was now an an engineering masterpiece which was now his right arm. Polished dark blue steel in the shape of an arm with black metal tubes in between shaped to mimic human muscle. "Poor bastard," said Dean still carrying that cocky attitude switching Ceadeus back to a bow. He flicked new right hand upwards and I watched an arrowhead come out of his new wrist. He lined the bow up against the wrist using the motion of drawing the string back to pull out an entire arrow from the compartment. I look around on his body, there wasn't a quiver on him. He launched the arrow to hit the man in the leg.

I was completely astonished, as he stretched his arms above his head after putting his weapon back over his head. I didn't think it was possible, but Dean Ambrose looked better than ever. He put his arms over mine and Seth's shoulders turning back to the graffiti on the wall. The man words of the man from the newspaper stand suddenly began to ring in my head again.

_I believe in The Shield_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we know a little more about Dean and where he comes from. 
> 
> I've been doing my best to try and paint the world of Elysium without giving away too much. There's a lot to take in from this chapter and there's still more to be unfolded. 
> 
> Also don't be ever be afraid to drop me a comment down below, even if you didn't like it. I'm always trying to find ways to improve my stories and provide you all the entertainment you deserve. This series as a whole is my baby, and it's your kind words that keep me motivated to continue to nurture it a great piece. I'm always open to constructive criticism and even a little help with editing (cause god know how many grammar error this is littered in). You guys are the best! 
> 
> Until next time :D


	7. Road to the North

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seth makes a choice, and now they must retrace the steps of his origin...for better or worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had been quiet about this so far, but I feel like I can finally say what I've been wanting to. 
> 
> It sucks to hear about Roman Reigns and his renewed battle with cancer. I will forever remain a fan of The Shield together or not, as they were the ones that got me back into wrestling all those years ago after I had grown bored, and never did I suspect they'd later on become my biggest inspiration for writing. As a third of that faction he'll forever have a special place in my heart. I admit I had poured every tear in my heart and now I wish him the best of luck in his battle. To see him admit to the world and walk off off that stage with head held high takes a kind of courage some wish they only had a fraction of. 
> 
> Thank you Roman and get well soon! Believe that!

"I feel...amazing!" said Dean as he stood there looking quite triumphant as he stretched around. "I knew Sami was smart, but holy crap he's a genius. The old man's teachings really have sunk into that thick head of his. I owe them for this, more than I'd probably like." It seemed to bring Seth great joy to see that our middle brother was alright and moving around and looking more energetic than normal.

We both had stopped to inspect Dean's new appendage. Everytime he had moved it around you could hear the gears whirring and each time sent excitement through our middle brother. The look in his eyes just said that he felt like a new man. Like something something had been sparked inside him that was just rejuvenating for him. For the first time in a very long time, he didn't look sullen in thought and not consumed in trying to contain his emotions. His smile looked genuine like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

I looked over at Seth, he was happy for our wayward brother but there was just that small spark of envy in his eyes as well. "Sami and I brought the designs and even showed them the new appendage. The big wigs at the university were stunned. I really hope this is the break he needs, it's all he's ever wanted since he was a kid." Dean looked his new arm up and down just in awe of what it truly was and what it stood for. For Sami it seemed like it was one of his greatest creations and a gift he could give to a friend in his steps of recovery. For Dean it represented a will to move forward and a drive to never fall victim to madness ever again. Our middle brother felt like he was in control. Our youngest however, although he was smiling his eyes said something different. He had those gears turning in his head.

"Lets just get back to Gale. Now that Dean is all fixed up I want him to look at my leg. Sure I can walk, but I need to know if I can fight." spoke up Seth finally. The way he spoke it seemed like there was something on his mind. He was hiding something, but it could also explain why he was in a rush to get back to the workshop. I wonder what he had planned. Never has he shown before the unquenchable need to fight before. It was like seeing Dean lighted a small flicker of aggression within him. I wanted to ask, but while he was riled up like this I felt like it wasn't the time or the place to be asking.

We silently walked back with me constantly keeping an eye on Seth. He walked with tense shoulders and one hand balled into a fist. Whatever was on his mind had him completely turned for the worst, which explained why he wanted to get back to Gale. The youngest looked like he wanted to break something, or just hit anything that crossed him. I felt like this was something just being bottled up and no longer able to be contained. Dean on the other hand just lead the way occasionally shooting a glance towards the younger male. The look on his face said that he too was worried about Seth. I just hope what had him wound up wouldn't have an effect on us trying to lay low.

We finally made it back to the workshop with me opening the gleaming doors to let the two and myself in. Once the door shut both Dean and I gave Seth our undivided attention, and he looked more than prepared to tell us what was going on in his head. I admit that the former assassin was good at hiding his emotions but when it came to personal matters he was a ticking time bomb. This was one of those moments, which had me believing that he was angry about something and that it had everything to do with something he had kept locked away. Just like what happened to Curtis this was personal, now this other thing with Seth was as well. "Talk." I said firmly to the younger man. I needed to prod him now before he could dance around the subject.

Seth sighed knowing he had been backed into a corner. Maybe he had planned to tell us just not so soon, or perhaps he knew we saw that he was practically voicing his thought in his actions. He took a deep breath of hesitation knowing that he had to pick his words carefully. Anytime the Mereian spoke to us, especially on serious matters, he wanted to make sure he was fully understood on what he had to say. He made sure there were no empty holes on the meaning of his actions. "There's something that's been bothering me ever since we met Gale. When I introduced myself he said the name Rollins had sounded familiar. At first I thought that he might just be a coincidence that he's thinking of someone with the same last name...but then he started talking about Doctor Ambrose's obsession with the Eye. It had me wondering about many things."

Upon mentioning the name Dean suddenly looked more attentive and more intrigued on what the youngest had to say. It sounded like Seth was onto something, and perhaps about to bring more light into this situation as a whole. I thought back about what the Atlean had to say about when they first met at the museum. It was strange that when they first started that they acted like total strangers. For Dean it was easy to put on an act, but for Seth I could see him not remembering much from such a small and innocent incident. He seemed to not dwell on the things that just seemed perfectly innocent, but the youngest seemed to be proving me wrong in that regard too. It seemed fate really had it out for us.

"I could ask Gale directly, but that wouldn't sate my need for answers," started Seth. I watched him suck in his bottom lip biting at it hard. If this was going where I think it was, I could understand why the words were hard for him. He shook his head taking in a deep breath. "The old man asked us for information on the Eye...well I think I know where we can get some straight answers." I watched that hand ball up into another fist. He didn't like what he had to say himself. His shoulders tensed and his gaze didn't leave the floor.

**"I need to return to Wyndmere."**

I never thought I'd hear those words coming from Seth, just like how Dean it was hard for him to return to Atlas. It made sense in a way. Maybe seeing the auburn haired man's origins, seeing reactions he's never seen Dean make before, and now...seeing the weight lifted from the other man's shoulders must have left a deep impression on Seth. He didn't look up from the floor just letting it sink in what it was he had just said. It must have been a lot of pride to swallow to even consider the thought of wanting to head back home. "What are you going to do when you get there?" I asked almost regretting the words immediately.

The youngest responded with a light chuckle. Although it was far from anything we've heard before. It sounded sinister and malicious, what ever intentions he had was definitely down a dark road none like we'd ever seen before. I felt like in that moment we were going to see a side of Seth Rollins like we'd never seen before. Even more than when we watched him charge Brock with a katana in his hand. "Something I should have taken care of long time ago."

Those words coming from an assassin...meant all kinds of trouble.

**~~~***~~~**

For the rest of the day Gale had used my strength to help him rearrange the workshop. It was a good workout to say the least and kept me busy as my brothers spent hours back up at the apartment while Dean checked out Seth's leg. I had noticed that the youngest finally stopped walking with limp, and by that I figured he should to be able to start training again. But he wanted to make sure he was at full strength. He was planning to kill someone in cold blood.

After putting down another large and heavy object of questionable usefulness I gave a sigh. The old man looked at me with concern. He looked like he had something running through his mind. "I know I don't need to tell you this, but I just want my old mind to be at ease." He sat down on a nearby chair and pulled off his glasses wiping the sweat from his brow. "Mox is going down the same path Kelic did, and that terrifies me. Jon and Sami are like sons to me, and I can't help but worry about them every waking moment. I constantly have to ask myself if they're going to be okay when my time is up. I know that Sami is stuck here but out there, Mox has a family. So please do this old man a favor. Take care of him and Seth too. You're the only one who can keep them out of trouble."

I stared blankly at Gale for a moment. Was he truly asking me to do what I was already doing? There was just something about the old man's words that made me lose myself in thought. He knew that I had made it my top priority to take care of Dean and Seth as if they were my own blood. We were brothers through and through and I didn't think I needed a reminder of what was required of me. But Gale was different. He wanted to remind me as a way of telling himself that Dean was going to be okay. In this moment I felt like he too was trying to act like a father figure to me as well. I would be forever thankful for his kindness. "You have my unconditional promise that I will keep Dean and Seth safe." The old man responded with a smile. "We're headed for the Radiance Providence next."

"Good, and when all's said and done...make sure Seth destroys that red journal." I once more gave Gale a blank stare and stood there jaw hung open. How did the old man know so much? I was afraid to think that my youngest brother might be onto something. He knew about the journal, which not even Dean and I have seen before. "Don't look at me like that, boy. I've done things and seen things you can only imagine."

There was an awkward silence between the two of us. Gale Teegan and his bottomless knowledge was absolutely astounding. He just seemed to know what was going on at all times. He also seemed to know just how we were going to react and had something to say before we could even say anything. He was extremely observant and probably how he realized Dean wasn't cut for engineering.

**~~~***~~~**

After some smaller conversions about lighter topics I began to notice Dean and Seth hadn't come down or even knocked on the garage door. There was no way a check up on Seth's leg that started in the afternoon continued on into the evening to almost midnight. Something else might have happened, and I began to worry. Gale and I decided to buckle down for the night as I my way back up into the apartment.

The kitchen had a large pizza box sitting on the counter with a few slices left, more than likely left for me. Before I could eat though I needed to know where my brothers were. I looked at my phone to see if I might have missed a call or a text from them or even Cassandra, but still I had nothing. I looked down the hall to see that the bedroom door was cracked open. Slowly I approached the door and stepped in being careful to not make a sound. My heart dropped in relief when I saw both my brothers sound asleep on the bed sleeping in their own unique ways with a pillow in between.

I stared intently at the two observing them sleep. It was when their personality differences show. Seth was tucked away snugly in his side of the blanket his hair fanned out on the pillow one with only one hand in sight holding up the blanket to his neck. Dean on the other hand had the shared comforter pushed down to his waist with his body spread as wide as it could on his back snoring the night away. It went to show just how much our youngest was locked away from everyone, covered up and protecting himself, while the middle was open and free, an open book who wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

For now I'd leave the two of them alone. Dean was probably still exhausted from his operation and Seth had worked hard to find any information he could while we were at the library. They had both earned their rest, I couldn't have been more proud of them for how much they've grown since the research lab. They were both fantastic soldiers but even more so the best brothers a guy could ask for. Seth was caring, always alert and seemed to be the first to know when something was amiss. Dean was a man of action, never afraid to show how he was feeling.

I returned to the living room to finally unwind. I ate the leftover pizza they had left for me and sent out a message for Cassandra to have a helicopter for us ready to return to Astros. From there we'd have to go by land to get to Cygnus, after that it'd be all Seth's plan. I wish I knew more than just that vague answer he gave us, but he wasn't Seth Rollins without his secrets. We were headed into territory that was fairly unknown and that only he knew about. I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep right away. I decided on laying down on the couch letting the news run by in hopes that it'd drift me to sleep. I partially listened as the journalists continued on about the attacks on Pegasus and Luna. The Shield came up a lot in their discussions.

If Heyman really wanted to show Brock's power why go through this much trouble? He could easily have him sicced on Leviathan and it'd be done dusted. But be was determined to have the blame shifted to us. I understood enough to know that he wanted us to take all the heat and then have his muscle put us down, but why? It was as Finn said...we gave people hope.

I felt my body grow heavy as I let exhaustion just thinking about our journey north. There was just so much happening at the same time and I felt the need to protect my brothers from all of it. We were The Shield, but in this moment of desperation I felt like I needed to be _their_ shield.

**~~~***~~~**

There was little time for rest as the next morning we had to say our quick goodbyes to Gale, before boarding the helicopter back to Astros. As we rode back I noticed that both my brothers were awfully quiet. Both had their minds on something. For Dean I assumed it was to use his new found spirit to become stronger than ever for before, and for Seth I'm sure he was think about his next step forward. We were ready for a trip, I couldn't help but feel it.

Once we were back in Astros, Seth wanted to waste no time and we found ourselves back on the road to Cygnus with Dean at the wheel. He didn't like driving much but he insisted seeing that I was still exhausted and Seth didn't look like he was in the right mindset. Since we had left Atlas he seemed to be focused on staring off to the distance. He was quiet not answering many questions nor even speaking much. It was frustrating but also understandable, I knew my little brother well enough to know not to push him. I could only hope he wasn't starting to become distant.

A loud sigh came from Dean's end as his eyes remained glued to the road. It seemed like his new arm hadn't affected his motor skills, or his being in general. It was almost as if he hadn't lost an arm at all, it was surprising. "You two are making me anxious! It's been nothing but silence since we left the old man and it's aggravating me."

"I'm sorry." spoke up the youngest barely audible. I watched as his shoulders slumped and his gaze never leaving the empty desert that surrounded us. More than likely he was in that dark place in his mind where he brooded and seethed. That dark part of him that screamed for release...the part of him that was ripped out forcefully by Brock.

Once more silence surrounded us until Seth spoke up again. "Did you know that my home country of Wyndmere is one of five that makes up the Radiance Providence? Each country is ruled by a king who in turn are ruled by a single ruler, we call the Grand Bishop." he started. This was a first as in the time we've been together he's never spoken once about where he's from. It was just like how often Dean talked about Atlas. Although he wasn't directly talking about his life it was something even just information. "The Radiance Providence is ruled by the church. At a young age everyone is taught that the Holy Mother watches over Elysium.

It was surprising to see how similar the government was when I arrived in the Falashian Alliance. All the provinces oversaw by a senator, whom report to the Prime Minister. It made me wonder why my king at the time denied the Alliance's approach. We could have benefited so much from it. There's still so much I want to understand. I believe my answers are in Wyndmere." That was the most Seth had ever spoken in the last few days let alone about his home. Perhaps he wanted to prepare us for what to expect, it was still a lot to take in.

"Do what you gotta do little brother. I don't think Ro and I are gonna look at you any different." Dean said followed by a chuckle. I guess he was trying to ease the Mereian's mind, but he wasn't wrong. When you thought about it enough we were all black sheep of where we come from. "You've seen the dump I come from." Seth cracked a small smile to Dean's words.

"When we arrive in Cygnus there's someone I need to see." That was yet another first from Seth. He never even spoke of the people he knew. It was surprising to run into his friend Curtis, made me what other kind of people he knew. I looked forward from the passenger's seat of the black jeep to see that we were fastly approaching some small houses along the road as it slowly started to become broken up and riddled with potholes. Sure enough we were coming to very northern border town of the Celestial Providence.

Cygnus, it was even more run down than I thought it was. With the shape it was in, it was surprising that this place was still in one piece. Every building in sight was run down in some way as the road slowly became dirt. It was obvious that the Alliance no longer cared for this tiny town. Most of the houses looked the same, one story with a questionable wooden porch on the front. In the center was a single windmill that was probably providing power to the entire town. If I hadn't seen a few of the towns folks sitting on their porches I would have thought this town was a ghost town.

"There," suddenly spoke up Seth pointing out a white house just up the road. Dean nodded and stopped the jeep in front of the house in question. Within a split second I watched Seth's melancholy look turn into that of an excited one. Who ever lived here was yet another who seemed to left a lasting impression. My eyes darted the window to the right of the door that suddenly had the curtain shifting and flailing around as if someone had just got done looking through them.

When the door of the house flung open I watched Seth dart up the stairs and wrap his arms around the neck of the man who had opened it. "Daniel!" he exclaimed happily. I watched as the two friends exchanged hugs but when his gaze laid upon me. I watched his whole body freeze and his arms dropped as mine did the same. Elysium truly was a small world.

Even after five years he still looked the same albeit he let his beard go. He looked a little slimmer than he had used to and his blond hair longer than ever. No words needed to be exchanged between the two of us as we just locked gray colored eyes. It was like both of us had just seen a ghost.

Seth noticed the sudden stiffness in Daniel's posture and backed away. He looked between the two of us sucking in his bottom lip nervously. Who knew what he was thinking, but for me this was a complete shock. I should be surprised that Seth knew him, but I was so focused that one of my old partners from Styles' unit was still alive. I couldn't shake my own shock from my being.

Slowly I watched as Daniel shuffled down the short steps leading to the porch of his house. Still I couldn't bring myself to say something as he approached me. My mind was running through so many things to say and ask. He was several inches shorter than I was and his sleek figure made for a great infiltration specialist. On any mission, in any situation nothing got past Daniel Bryan, and he got by everything. "I never thought I'd see you again, Roman." he finally spoke up.

I scratched the back of my head. I really just didn't know what to say. "I could say the same. This entire time I thought you were dead." Which was true. I hadn't seen or heard from Bryan in years, right after I had recovered from my wound so many years ago it was just like he had disappeared. He looked up and spotted Dean who was just leaning against the jeep minding his own business. Daniel squinted his eyes getting a good inspection of the Atlean.

"Come inside." he said waving his hand signaling us to follow him. He stopped first to place a hand on Seth's shoulder. "It's good to see you again Tyler." he said before stepping back into his house. Something told me his inspection of Dean sparked something inside him. I hope this didn't have more to do with Seth's suspicions. I was beginning to think that the three of us becoming a team wasn't mere coincidence. Things were just coming together so conveniently, Seth knew that Daniel was here.

**~~~***~~~**

For such a shoddy looking outside the inside of Daniel's house was in much better shape. The walls were all painted light blue with cream colored curtains on every window. He looked like he made the most of the small space he had. Every piece of furniture was in pristine condition and were all matching with tan colored upholstery. It reflected just how much he kept himself in good condition.

He brought up a wooden chair from the dining room while and sat down in it offering the couch and the matching recliner to us. He smiled as Seth and I sat down on the small couch and Dean in the recliner. The look on his face showed that he was quite grateful to see us. It was almost like he was waiting for us. It was terrifying just how close Daniel was to Colonel Styles, he just seemed to always know what was going on. Slowly and carefully did we explain to him our pieces on how and why we were here.

"I should have known that you Roman of all people would be in the center of the madness. To think that The Shield are here searching deep for themselves." said Daniel running a hand over his beard. He sighed deeply before giving us a light chuckle. "I'm sure you guys don't need to hear this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I think the world needs The Shield, you guys give hope and the only defense we have against Leviathan." I couldn't deny that. We were the first response team that were always on top of the Leviathan attacks. But once again there was Finn's piece of mind at play again. That same small word that seemed to be the driving force behind The Shield.

"Did you know that the Leviathan Providence didn't have a name until Tyler named it? It was barren and empty and something simple as a name gave it life and a purpose." Seth had suddenly spoken up. He had been doing that a lot today, I wondered if it had something to do with being so close to home. He seemed to randomly just speak up as if he was trying to keep his mind off something else. "He named it after the great sea serpent that supposedly once watched over Paragon. So when he hid the eye there, it was like the vast tundras would watch over it as Leviathan once did." I took in what the youngest had to say. It was almost ironic that a lot of Paragon's history had a lot to do with what was written in Seth's red journal. More and more Gale's words about destroying it was making sense. Tyler Black knew something the rest of the world was trying to figure out. The room got eerily silent.

Daniel looked up to see that the sun was beginning to dip beneath the horizon. He got up stretching his arms above his head. He looked at all three of us and smiled. It was the kind of smile that said he was up to something and was formulating a plan. "It gets cold out here at night especially in the winter time. Stay here tonight, at least so I can catch up with Roman." I watch Dean shrug probably not wanting to nap in a moving jeep in the middle of the coldest season of the year. My eyes panned over to Seth who was silently staring out the window in the direction of the Radiance Providence, no doubt the thoughts of his home weighing heavy on his mind.

That night Daniel gave his guest bedroom to my brothers while I decided to take his couch. I sat on Daniel's porch staring up at the moonlit night sky. The silver ring around the moon was memorizing as it looked as if it was competing with the stars on who could shine the brightest. The blanket of stars were a sight to behold as I found myself beginning to think of my own home back on the island. It didn't occur to me until now that I hadn't seen a sight like this since I left. It's been over ten years now since I had left to join the military. Seeing Daniel was beginning to remind me of when I had first met him, AJ, and Chris. Everything that has happened has been an up and down roller coaster.

I felt a hand come down on my shoulder as I looked up to see Daniel's smiling face. "You think too much." he said taking a seat down next to me on his dark wood bench. "Did you ever stop to think that Dean and Seth are so wound up because you are? As the leader you should be the most-"

"I get it, Daniel." I said quickly cutting him off. He just chuckled and shook his head. "What's so funny?" That question only seemed to cause him to laugh harder. He was mocking me for sure but why? Was this is way of trying to get me to relax or piss me off? "I'm no AJ Styles," I told him trying to get a read on him.

He put an arm around my shoulders as hi laughter finally died down. "Nope you're not. Since you understand this...why do you keep trying? It's just so funny." Did Daniel again see something that I obviously didn't? The bearded man was always a lot more observant and intelligent than anyone gave him credit for. It made him not only a great scout but an one hell of an agent, and not to mention if he really wanted he could kick someone's head right off their shoulders. "What I'm trying to say here is, stop trying to be Styles. You can only be Roman Reigns. Once you understand that then Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins will start to come out too. You're their big brother, they look up to you for both guidance and determination. Be the brother they need, not the one you wish to be."

**~~~***~~~**

_I remember the empty mess hall filled with four different laughters. It was our last night in Pegasus Station before we were headed North for our mission in Leviathan. It was a simple seek and destroy mission. There were rumors that Leviathan had plans for a weapon of mass destruction. Our mission was was to destroy the plans and the factory._

_We had been quelling smaller missions in Solaris at the time, and we were celebrating what would be our first big mission as a team. I was a little nervous but being surrounded by them calmed my nerves. Daniel, Chris, and AJ had been at the job for a very long time. They've been through hell and back from the stories they used to tell me and catch me up on, but I was determined to make them proud. I wanted to go to through with them. Back then I wanted to be just like AJ Styles, a fearless leader who always stared death in the face. He was always there for us, to guide and protect us without a moment's hesitation. He truly was the best._

_"Temperatures up north are harsh," said Chris taking another sip of his drink. If I had to say Seth reminded me a lot of Chris Jericho. He was incredibly skilled at hand to hand combat, the only man I ever knew that could knock Colonel Styles on his ass. He always carried a sharp blade and even sharper tongue. He had always kept himself up by maintaining a well trimmed beard and a shock of short blonde hair neatly spiked upwards, and his fair colored skin decorated in many tattoos some of which he said reminded him of home. "I mean it's too late to turn around now, Reigns."_

_"You kiddin' me?" spat back AJ, "It's gonna take more than a few cold temperatures to scare Roman off, and beside Chris...this is your first time headed up there too." AJ couldn't help but have a smug look on his face as he too took another sip of his drink. It was steaming and from a mug my guess it was coffee, as our fearless leader seemingly could never get enough of the stuff._

_Daniel's laughter finally died down as he listened to Chris and AJ go back and forth. "I think Chris is just cocky because he's from Cygnus. It's about as far north as you can get without going outside the Alliance. I mean it gets cold enough to snow there," he explained just trying to join in on the trouble._

_"Take his side!" shouted Chris defensively. Once again laughter filled up the empty mess hall. He raised his glass wearing a cocky smile. "To us! The best damn team Special Ops has ever seen, and a special toast to our phenomenal leader!" The four of us clinked our glasses (and AJ's mug) together in a toast._

_"Hey!" spoke up AJ after we all took a swig of our drinks. "Daniel grab your camera, I want a before and after picture so I can compare the two once we come back from the extreme temperatures. I wanna see if you guys are still gonna be smilin' once we return." Daniel nodded and pulled out a black card from his pocket. To a normal person it was just an ordinary thin black object, but when Daniel pressed his thumb to a specific corner a small shutter opened up on the front and a screen on the back. This was his scouting cam for when he needed quick pictures of the area._

_He propped the camera up against a glass and set a timer. AJ and Daniel stood in the middle wrapping their arms around each other's shoulders with Chris kneeling in the front and being the tallest I stood in the back flexing one arm just to rub it in just to show how much bigger I was than the other three. After a few seconds of posing Daniel's camera snapped the picture. Little did I know at the time...that'd it'd be our last moments together._

_Suddenly the vision went completely black and the first thing I noticed walking through the darkness was pale skin. The rest of his image appeared slowly, large muscular frame, sadistic sneer. I watched him reach into the empty blackness and my eyes widened in horror what he was holding. Brock was holding Dean up by his bicep and began to hold him up with both hands. The dreaded scene from Ursa Minor beginning to repeat in front of me._

_I shut my eyes tightly as I was only surrounded by Dean's blood blistering scream._

__**_"You caused this."_** _ _

__I opened my eyes towards the sound of the voice and found myself at the end of a glimmering gun barrel. I shifted my gaze slightly upwards to see it was Seth on the other end. I was at his mercy as his hand shook and tears beginning to stream down his face. "If only you had left it alone...none of this would have happened!" As I reached out to try and grab the gun from Seth, the last thing I heard was the sound of a gunshot ringing in the air._ _

__

**~~~***~~~**

"Roman!" 


	8. When the Past Meets the Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Take a walk through the life Seth left behind...

_"Roman!"_

What ever trance I was in hearing my name shouted broke me out. I stood there frozen I could feel the pads of my fingertip grazing over the taut skin of Seth's neck. Had Daniel been a second slower I could have easily snapped my younger brother's neck. We both remained there silently like this. My mind trying to catch me up on what it was I was about to do. I watched the Merian gently place his hands over mine and gently lowering away from him while I stood breathing heavily. "Whatever it was Ro...it was just a dream." he said calmly.

I had nearly killed Seth, that was all my mind seemed to be focused on. Seeing as how I remained silent he continued trying to defuse the situation. "Dean is at the pharmacy refilling our supplies. Daniel suggested we see about hitching a ride to Wyndmere." I remained silent with the younger's hands just sitting on my shoulders waiting for my breathing to come to a slower pace. "It'll be okay." he said again and again, like a slow mantra. He repeated the words until I finally pulled my hands away.

I took a deep breath to get take back control of my actions. I thought about the dream, I just didn't understand why my mind would repeat the sequence of events that transpired in Ursa Minor? It was like there were powers to be that wanted to remind me that I wasn't as strong as I thought. I admit that it was a moment of weakness and I thought that there was a chance I couldn't protect my brothers. But I couldn't be thinking that way, Seth was incredible in hand-to-hand combat and Dean is a survivor from Atlas. They were more than capable of handling themselves in any situation, so why was my subconscious reminding me of that one time.

"Ro?" questioned Seth breaking me out of my thoughts. I had to mentally slap myself and try not to show it to my youngest brother that I was generally concerned about our situation...more so theirs if anything else. I could care less about myself at this point.

I rubbed my eyes to try and get all the mundane thoughts from out of my head and only focus on Seth who was right in front of me. I took a few more deep breaths before I could find my complete composure and could actually think straight. I gave my eyes one last rub to try and remove the confliction off my face. "Since you know the area the best, I take it you have a plan?"

Seth's smile never faded. He was trying to be as calm as possible since I was moments from snapping his neck. "I'm the architect of the group, remember? I always have a plan." he said reassuring me. A part of me was quite fascinated that we were about to have a look at where Seth grew up as Tyler Black. The other part of me however, was worried about what other sides of our younger brother we've not seen yet. Maybe that's what my dream was reminding me of. Even though on the surface right now he was smiling, he still had a killer instinct within. It was one of the deadliest of predators, waiting for it's moment to strike. My dream was reminding me just how dangerous of a man Seth Rollins truly was and I had this sick feeling in my gut that what we saw was only the beginning.

We had seen so many unforeseen pages of Dean's story when we went to Atlas, would Seth be the same? We knew almost nothing about the Radiance Providence as it was, aside from the small tidbits of information that he had given us. I'd never seen a whole providence run by a theocracy before. My own people believed in the holy mother, but it didn't fuel our existence.

**~~~***~~~**

With Dean already out and about once Seth and I were fully awake we too headed out. We walked down the flattened dirt road that ran through the middle of the town towards what Seth explained to be the local bakery. According to the youngest this bakery actually delivered to Wyndmere and was the only vehicle from the Alliance that has permissions to enter the country.

"The owner of the place, is how I ended up here. He found me wandering the winding road starving. Turns out I wasn't very good at hunting the wildlife around the area." I couldn't help but notice Seth's mood shifting. He seemed to be comfortable since we got to this town. He spoke like he was finally lifting some of that weight off his shoulders. I hadn't seen the Mereian look this relaxed since a few days before his friend Curtis died. There was just something about him I couldn't put my mind on. I stayed silent and let him continue.

"The owner of the bakery isn't the original owner though. His best friend was the owner, but illness took him. When he took over he changed the name of the place after a joke the two of them used to make all the time. Kevin took me to Daniel, he's more or less the head of the town...and well you know the rest." finished Seth as we came up on the bakery. The building was bigger than the rest of the ones we'd seen on Cygnus so far, but looked equally run down. It too looked like it was hanging on the thread as the cream colored paint looked like it was peeling from the walls. The front had two large windows looking in, showing the two display cases full of pastries and bread of all sorts. One of the windows displayed the name of the place in red lettering reading "Generico's Bakery".

I raised my eyebrow at the name, I bet the owner has had to explain the story of the name of the place to many customers. It was an interesting name but if this was the brought some revenue to Cygnus I wasn't going to question it. I was still in amazement on just how much this small town was hanging on a thread. I'd talk to Daniel later about possible military support and get this place running. The two of us approached the door, it was glass and stood on a steel frame. On the other side hanging on a thin chain was a black sign that read open in orange letters.

Seth pushed the door open ringing the silver bell hanging above. Alerting the owner he had some customers. A dark haired, rotund man wearing a white chef's coat came out from the door in the back, "Welcome to-" he seemed to stop and look at Seth jaw hung open. "Tyler." was all he seemed to be able to say. It just seemed like everyone was shocked to see the youngest of our group. It made me think about the impact he had left on these people. Was his influence the same as the one he's had on Dean and I? There was so much to think about when it came to the mystery that surrounded the Mereian.

"Hello, Kevin. I know it's been a while." he said sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"You look great. The military has done something to you, because you hold yourself a lot higher than the day I found you. It's like you're whole different person now." explained Kevin. I began to see the similarities between our visits here and the visit to Atlas. Both Dean and Seth's friends all said the same thing. They were different people now. I had never stopped to think about how they began to hold themselves to higher standards just by a name change, or is it from being a survivor of the project? It could have been our experiences as well. The Shield has seen so much in the near year we have been together.

I watched as Seth turned away from Kevin hiding the obvious conflict in his gaze. On one hand he was happy that everyone didn't forget about him, and yet...there was the other side hoped they forgot. I'm sure being called Tyler Black so much reminds him of his moment of weakness, a constant reminder of his blood stained past. "It's because I-" started Seth seemingly unable to find the words.

The hesitation in Kevin wasn't lost on him as he raised his eyebrow waiting for the younger to speak. I knew it had to be me to break the awkward silence. "A-anyway Seth believes that you can provide us with a ride to Wyndmere."

"I'm not assisting the military." he responded rather quickly without a second thought. That seemed to snap whatever thoughts Seth was trying to gather. Whatever it was it seemed like Kevin had some sort of grudge against the military. It was just like being in Atlas again. If you weren't in the military, you didn't trust them. If I was being honest with myself...I didn't blame them either. Since Lorken's detainment and the interrogations with Mizanin there was a lot that didn't add up. "The military doesn't help us out here...so why should I have to offer my services. Where was the Alliance when people got sick?!"

I couldn't face the man after that comment. He wasn't wrong either. If he's talking about the same illness that plagued the entire Celestial Providence then I didn't blame him for the venom that dripped from his words. Seth said that the owner died of illness, and if the dates matched up then it might have been the same one that took Dean's mother as well. The doctors in Atlas barely managed to find a cure before it took some of their best. Being so far away from both Astros and Atlas, it must have hit this town harder than I could ever imagine. Seeing the rest of the Alliance from different angles was putting my mind in a new perspective.

Who knew that the edge of Death could help someone see a different light.

But Seth didn't seem affected by the baker's words. He knew the entire story that happened between Kevin and the original owner. He looked steadfast, and didn't look like he was going to back down. Was it his desire to return home that badly or was it because he's heard it all before? Our youngest was both intuitive and brilliant, if his heist on the museum has anything to say on that, and finally has seen both the flourished side and the ugly side of the Alliance. Seeing both sides might have been setting his mind in motion. "Kevin...they did come. I'm sorry it was just too late for Sami."

"And how do you know this?" asked the baker still acting quite aggressive, as he gripped the edge of his counter. "It all happened before you showed up here."

"Because, as a member of the military now I have full access to the library of Atlas. Roman and I were looking for research notes from a Doctor Kelic Ambrose, an esteemed scientist from the university and the man who was given co-credit for finding the cure. He felt ashamed that the cure couldn't make to Cygnus in time before it took the lives of many. But before it could claim the entire town...that cure was administered by the military. It was brought here by the same man that watches over the town, First Lieutenant Daniel Bryan." I watched as Kevin's grip loosened on the counter. It seemed that Seth had managed to push some sense into the other man's head. Seth smiled seeing that he was getting through, he just continued. "I spoke with Daniel and he explained to me that he keeps a constant low profile contact with the military to make sure Cygnus stays safe. This place is very vulnerable to Leviathan attacks, and it would be a hole in the ground if it wasn't for the military's efforts."

The baker sighed deeply. He didn't say a word and his face showed that Seth's words were sinking in deeply. It seemed like Kevin hated the military but had no idea that they were protecting them in the long run. That must have struck home for him as he finally stood up straight straightening out his coat. "I leave at just after dawn to make my delivery tomorrow. Don't be late." I had to think again about how Seth had a presence that drew people in. He was trained in deception and yet, I had only seen nothing but loyalty from him. Was this all apart of his plan of deceiving us as well? I hope not, I trust Seth.

**~~~***~~~**

Luckily for us, Kevin's van wasn't cramped despite that he was not only giving us a ride but making his delivery. He didn't have a huge haul made it easy to stuff three men who were armed to the teeth. I didn't want to take the risk, so I made both Seth and Dean take their tactical gear. If there was a chance we had been followed, it put my mind at ease to know that they were armed. It'd make our enemies think twice before getting the jump on us.

"A broken town, with not so broken people." spoke up Dean catching both mine and Seth's attention. Since arriving in Cygnus I hadn't gotten much time to speak with the Atlean since we had to plan right away for the journey to Wyndmere. Now that he had spoken up, I didn't realize it until now that he had practically just been dragged around here only following not questioning our younger brother's motives. Here he was now as we were almost there finally voicing his thoughts. "These people live in the moment, it's like they always gotta look over their shoulder not sure if that moment is gonna be their last. They survived illness, and a Leviathan attack and they still press on knowing life is just gonna keep going. It's like the further you get from Astros, the more you see the true fighting spirit of the Alliance. It almost feels like the government only cares about Astros, but somehow anything outside of Celestial Providence hasn't been blown to hell."

Seth nor myself couldn't help but smile to what Dean had said. I briefly looked over to see even Kevin had looked a little smug. Leave it to our middle brother of all people to notice a fighting spirit. His observation skills were second to none, and more than likely did some of his own investigating while we were out there. If I had to describe Dean he was like a cat. He went where he pleased, but always knew where to come back to and somehow always aware of what's around him. I hadn't realized that the abilities given to him by Protect: Taladen were almost quite fitting for his personality.

I couldn't help but agree to some of the stuff the Atlean had claimed though. Since joining the military I've always wondered about what it was the government had truly cared about. Was it about keeping the interests of the Alliance and her people or was there something else going on? Heyman's motives still weren't completely clear to me. Every time I got thinking about my brothers my thoughts always seemed to be driven back to Heymen and his monster Lesnar. I pounded the back wall of the truck behind me causing the whole thing to sway.

"Hey easy there!" shouted Kevin who was frantically steering to regain it's balance. Sometimes I forgot my own strength. Once the truck was back under control the baker started again. "How do you guys plan to get back, exactly? I don't have another delivery for another two days." Now that I thought about it, he did have a point. How were we going to get back, we couldn't just spend two days in Wyndmere...not when time wasn't on our side. We had to get back to Astros as soon as possible.

"We're resourceful." I told him, just saying the first thing that came to mind. I didn't want to have yet another worry about us. "Advantages to being Special Ops. We're trained to do so." I watched as Kevin shrugged satisfied enough with my answer. I slowly turned my attentions back to my brothers who were more or less just fidgeting just trying to keep themselves occupied. Dean was tapping away at his knee still and I watched Seth juggle one of his batons back and forth between his hands.

I looked over to one of the side pockets in Seth's pants and noticed he had something hidden away in it. I wanted to ask him about it, but seeing the mind set he was in currently I felt like I shouldn't pressure him. Perhaps it went with why he was fidgeting with his baton. I had those specially made for him as we were supposed to be non-lethal for the most part and yet somehow he still had a mind to bring a knife. Judging by the size of it, it was probably perfect for stabbing someone and knowing his skills it was probably sharp enough too. The last time I saw Seth carry anything lethal was the katana Orton provided him when we investigated Ursa Minor.

Ursa Minor…

Now that I thought about it...all these detours were a hindrance to our goal of saving the Prime Minister. The trip to Atlas was needed because we needed to get the new appendage for Dean less he wanted to be permanently with one arm. Seth on the other hand, he needed to ease his mind. So much was riding on him being able to move forward with his life. He looked so sure this was what he needed to do. I sighed as yet again my thoughts came full circle. Never in my life had I met individuals that made me question my entire life. Dean and Seth were doing something to me that I couldn't quite put my mind on. Not even Colonel Styles, nor Jericho, nor Bryan could make me question. With them I questioned my training, the Alliance, and Project: Taladen...it had me thrown for a loop.

I felt the truck come to a halt and listen to Kevin greet someone quite charmingly. Must only be the military he's hostile towards. Once the baker's conversation was over the truck began moving again for just a few more minutes and stopped again.

I watched Seth pulled a backpack from the floor pulling out a long winding piece of black cloth. He threw over his shoulders and pulled the silver clasp together before handing one to myself and Dean. "Hide who you are while you're here. We can't let them know we're with the Alliance. Last I heard from here, they think it was the Alliance that assassinated our king all those years ago. But between us we know the truth. Don't let anyone know who we are, we must stay hidden." It was like being here was another mission. Staying hidden was what we were trained to do.

"Coast is clear." said Kevin opening the door to his truck and stepping out. That was our queue as well. Once Dean and I had the cloaks around our shoulders we stepped out and headed in whichever direction Seth was walking. He put his hood up causing Dean and I to do the same.

**~~~***~~~**

Seth had motioned for us to follow him quickly into the town. The street we walked on was cobblestone and the buildings were old and rickety made of wood. Most of the buildings weren't even painted and the ones that were had the paint peeling off. They had definitely looked like they had weathered a few storms. It was strange to see a place look so run down, and yet prosper so well. These people truly lived on their own terms which explained many things on why Seth acted the way he did.

We followed the youngest at a brisk pace. He remained quiet most likely formulating his plans. At this point I probably thought the further we were the better. Even Dean was still oddly silent, probably just taking everything in. He had grown up in Atlas and surrounded by Gale's technology. The look on his face showed deep curiosity probably wondering how a place can still prosper on such low grade technology.

"Seth where are we headed?" whined Dean who sounded like he was getting antsy, and an antsy Dean was never good. That was when he liked to push buttons on people extra hard, just to see what makes them tick. Now that I thought about it, how was Dean not dead yet was beyond me. The only answer he got from Seth was an annoyed gruff. It seemed like the youngest was dead set on his task at the moment. I said and did nothing as Dean reached out and grabbed a hold of the Mereian's wrist stopping him in his tracked. "Look here Seth. The three of us together have killed plenty of men to protect the people. But as a doctor and a medic I don't think I can condone the killing of someone in cold blood. You're going to tell me right now, what your plan is. Are you executing a guilty man? Or is your goal a personal vendetta?"

I watched Seth turn around and rip his wrist out of Dean's grip. "Stop trying to act like you understand me, Dean! What if it's a vendetta? Are you really going to stop me from doing the one thing in my whole life I was trained for?" I looked back and forth between my brothers ready to step in but this also seemed like something Dean had been biting his tongue on for a while but never said anything. It probably explained why he had been so quiet.

"Did you ever stop to think that myself nor Roman don't want to see you hurt? We go on missions all the time but we have each other's backs all the time. I know for a fact this is something you want and must do on your own, and to be honest Seth...that scares me. That scares the hell out of me, because I can't save every life...and it pains me to say that. But what if I can't save yours...I'd rather die a thousand times over than to lose you or Roman." I watched as Seth's gaze shifted to the floor. Dean had a point. He spoke for even myself. The one thing I never wanted to do was lose my brothers.

Suddenly, Seth launched himself at Dean wrapping his arms around his neck and holding him close and tight hug. It was just like back at Atlas. Our younger brother looked almost grateful. "Even if you never forgive me Dean, this is something I have to do. But please have faith in me, I can't guarantee that I'll come out unscathed however, I will win. I won't die. I'm not ready to lose or Ro yet either." Satisfied with the answer our middle brother said nothing else, and just held Seth close and equally as tightly. It was quite the sight to behold to see how our small family was coming together.

**~~~***~~~**

We had continued walking until he had taken us to a dark wood colored building. On the sides of the rickety entrance were two four square looking windows with one of the sections on the left looking cracked. I took a peek inside the windows seeing light colored wood tables with a small candle in the center of each table, and a bench to complement each one that looked like a whole log cut in half. The lighting inside wasn't very bright, however it wasn't dim either. It seemed to have an ambient glow as if it wanted to welcome any customer that stepped inside. It seemed similar to the girls' diner, reminding me that Seth was the one who was drawn to it first. Many of the pieces of Seth's personality beginning to fit together.

The youngest placed a hand on the door eyeing both of us. "Follow my lead, and don't say anything pertaining to the Alliance or even the Eye of Taladen. The owner doesn't have hesitation when it comes to throwing people out." He looked back and forth between us, waiting to get the nod okay before pushing the dark colored door open revealing the charming inn.

The first thing I noticed was the at the very back wall was a wall of wooden kegs behind a polished oak counter. The man behind the counter seemed to be quite focused on cleaning the crystal clear glass in his hands and seemed quite content on doing so. Some of the patrons eyed us warily probably not understanding why three men in long black cloaks were walking into such a place. But I still wasn't quite sure myself, Dean and I were still just blindly following Seth and exploring the word he grew up in.

We quietly approached the cleanly polished bar, with Seth's gaze never averting from what's in front of us. He seemed so determined it was eerie, I had never seen our little brother's posture so stern. Normally he always looked ready to strike, his body always relaxed ready for anything at any moment. But this time, he was like a snake coiled and ready to strike. He was waiting on something...I'm sure this barkeep had something to do with it.

Seth sat in one of the stools in front of the keep staring him down. "Give me your strongest."

The bar keep finally looked up to eye Seth up and down. To say he was surprised was an understatement, his gray eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. Nervously the barkeep had put down the glass he was cleaning and scratched his thick beard, but well groomed beard. The man was a bit smaller than us with dark buzzed cut hair and piercing gray eyes. "I'm afraid I'm fresh out," he replied hesitantly.

The Merian leaned forward with a smirk on his face and elbows planted firmly on the counter resting one hand under his chin. "Perhaps you have more in the back then."

The barkeep could only respond with a boisterous laughter. He took the glass off the counter and slid it under the counter proceeding then to pull out a smaller glass and bottle pouring an amber liquid. Seth picked up the glass and downed the entire thing in one gulp taking joy in it's burning taste. "It's been a while Aries. Too long."

The bar keep, Aries, did the same pouring himself a glass of the same amber liquid and taking a drink. Must have been a greeting between the two of them. "I thought I saw a ghost, turns out it's just Tyler Black...a man who should be dead." Aries looked up to see the two of us taking a seat on both sides of our younger brother. He gave us the same eye he was giving Seth. "The company you keep is lacking." I looked over to see that Seth was holding back a laugh at his comment.

"Where is everyone?" asked Seth holding up his hand declining another drink just as Aries was going to pour him another. From everything I've gotten so far, this Aries was no ordinary barkeep. He knew things, probably things he's heard from his patrons. No doubt probably gets paid for the information he gathers, and judging by the coded message passed onto one another it may be a part of a bigger ring.

"The count has them on lock down. Ever since the king was killed, the Grand Bishop came and decided to split Wyndmere into four all ruled by the head noble houses. This whole section is now ruled by your father. Some people can barely afford to live, while his coffers remain full. I'm surprised I can keep this place afloat." Aries ended his last sentence with a sigh. I turned to Seth who had that look on his face when he was thinking about something serious. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I knew what he was thinking. He knew what he felt he needed to do.

Seth's posture slumped and his hair fell over his shoulders shielding his eyes. In between the strands though I could see that dark look on his face. The one that made men fear his arts. "I'll take care of it. After all, it's why I came back." His mouth turned into a sneer, the snake was coiled when we got here…

And now it was baring its fangs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Seth slowly shows his darker side more and more.


	9. Reclaiming Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The encounter Seth needs, and a fight that Dean and Roman will never forget. The youngest of the Shield finally comes face to face with the demons of his past.

When I saw the look on Aries' face bewildered me. Did he not know of Seth's previous profession? Or was it something else. We were talking about the man who taught Seth his arts, the man who knew his secrets and his blade...and now he was one of the most powerful men in Wyndmere. Perhaps Aries was surprised that someone would even plot against his father. From what it sounded like, no one dare opposed him right now. It was terrifying just thinking about similar the Alliance and Wyndmere really were. No one dared oppose to those who lead them.

Seth got up first moving the strands of hair from his eyes. Now that his dark curtain was gone he looked all the same again. Large brown eyes that'd put a baby deer to shame, and near innocent look that you'd never think was a born killer. He truly was fascinating and it made me want to know more about him. That's why Dean and I were following the path he walked so long ago, and that why we were still here despite knowing what it was he came here to do. We could only stand by as we explored the unknown.

Just as Dean and I got up, Aries once more spoke. "Just hold on a minute there Tyler. You know the deal. I gave you information now you have to offer the coin, or something else equal in value." So my hunch was correct. This Aries was more or less an information broker. He gave you information, and in return you'd give him the same or money. Knowing what's going around is probably more valuable than any kind of money. Yet something else that was the same between Wyndmere and the Alliance. The people believed our worlds vastly to be different, and here we were being proved wrong.

Seth sighed, knowing that he had been caught off guard. The youngest placed a hand on his chin thinking about what to say. Shrugging he turned to face Aries, "You win Austin." He pulled out a picture from under his cloak, more than likely from one of the many pockets on his harness. The picture contained what looked to be the Eye of Taladen before it was stolen from it pedestal from the museum. "The Eye of Taladen is very much real, and so are the rumors. The Alliance I think plans to use it's power to bolster its army."

Aries took the picture off the counter and slid it under the bar, shaking his head. He wasn't sure if what he was given was useful or not. "What you want me to send thieves after it? Mereians are good but I don't think-"

"No, I want you to get the word going around. Lest we can do is get the people of the Radiance Providence under the protection of the Alliance. Once they find out that that the Falishian Alliance is using one of relics of the Holy Mother they'll either revolt or move to want to be under her protection. With enough buzz flying through the Radiance Providence the Grand Bishop will have no choice but to respond." Not only did Aries give Seth a blank look, but the same went for Dean and I. Here I thought he was just planning an assassination but the youngest of the Shield was definitely a lot more brilliant than I had originally gave him credit for. Seth had put a lot of thought into this, and the defense of his home was something that weighed heavy on his mind.

Seth wanted to defend the people of the Radiance Providence, and was doing it in the only way he knew how. By streaming forth information to be pass through out the underground of his nation, but he was doing it in a way so that the people would understand. The people of the this providence wanted protection under the guidance of the Holy Mother, when reality he was hoping to move them under the Alliance's technology.

With not much else to say Seth turned and finally headed for the entrance of the inn. He was exiting the same way he came in with all eyes glued to him. But this time instead of trying to hide his face he once more had his head held high. That visage of mystery showing itself once more and Seth wearing it proudly. A proud man who was proud of his art.

Once we were out of the inn and back onto the cobblestone streets I finally spoke up. "I'm impressed Seth, when you said you had been thinking about this for a while, I didn't realize how deep you had gone. You're going to a lot of lengths to make sure the people are protected."

The youngest gave a slight chuckle, "I may be an assassin...but even we have codes of honor to follow. We delve into the underground picking up whatever armaments we can get our hands on. The blood that stains our hands couldn't be ever truer, but there is one rule we all must follow: Execute only the guilty, so that the innocent may prosper."

"I see, so that's what assassins believe to separate them from cold blooded murderers," quipped Dean piecing together all what Seth had to say. The Atlean had been uncharastically quiet thus far since we got to Cygnus, however it seemed to slowly becoming the norm when he was absorbing information. His silence spoke even louder than when he was lecturing us on whatever subject happened to be on his mind, it was often forgotten that he too was a victim in all of this mess. Much like Seth he wasn't letting it weigh him down. He knew the sun was still going to rise tomorrow, so for him this trip was nothing more than a science expedition. He came here with an open mind to understand Seth more, and I could see it was enlightening. He didn't interrupt and only spoke when questions arose. His mentor would be proud of the scientist that Dean had become. He was now leaps and bounds away from his past as Jon Moxley.

"It's just like living life in Atlas. People are suffering and those who can do something turn a blind eye...but not you Seth Rollins. If there's anyone who can save this miserable town it ought to be you. This is your legacy, see it through little brother." Dean grinned giving Seth a thumbs up. It was like he was giving our little brother his blessings. The Atlean too was someone who fought for the people. It was his job to save lives, and if turning the other cheek to an assassination meant lives to be saved. He'd do just that. Dean knew probably most than anyone, sometimes the even the dirtiest of deeds needed to be done to achieve your goal.

I looked back at Seth to see if there was that confliction in his eyes. For once I saw none. No hesitation, not even a hint of regret. If he was going to do this it was now or never. It was another mission that needed to be seen to it's finish. Sighing, I walked over and placed my hands on Seth's shoulders rubbing in circles. He was tense, probably even a little nervous I needed to do my part to help him in his endeavor. He closed his eyes taking deep breaths just taking in the comfort.

Seth looked up from the ground after I was done to look around slowly. He pointed to the at a hill with a rather large mansion on top. "There," he started. "That was the king's mansion, the location of my first assassination. After I had killed him the streets were rioting, and everyone had grown scared with the lack of leadership. I left because I couldn't bear the burden of guilt knowing that I was the one who had caused Wyndmere had fallen apart. It's almost sickening that I wasn't wrong. I thought of myself as her savior, there's still a chance I could be."

The youngest sighed heavily, as he replaced the hood of his cloak back on his head. He turned his back to the hill with the empty mansion on top and walked in the opposite direction. As we walked down the empty road the clouds began to clear revealing a full moon casting a brilliant shine upon the city, and a full blanket of stars to accompany it's ravishing beauty. I looked up in awe, the night sky looked the same as the night I had caught up with Daniel. Things were becoming a lot of clear as well it served as another reminder of who I was, and where I came from, as well as the values I was raised on. I looked over to see Dean taking in the night sky as well. I could imagine having never seen anything like it before, having lived in the city all his life.

I couldn't quite put my mind on it, but there was a charm about a possible quieter life. Ever since the project I had been left to question everything, but then I looked at my brothers...they always seemed to know what it was they wanted. It made me think about what it was I wanted. I quietly groaned to myself, as I continued to follow.

**~~~***~~~**

It was further into the night as we continued to follow Seth. I had a strong feeling as to where he was leading us. As my mind wandered we soon came to a large crimson colored mansion. It was isolated with almost no building near by. The front had a well kept lawn with several small trees with ebony colored wood to line against a tall metal fence with black spades at the top. There was a long brick path in between the two patches of grass, and at the end was a extravagant decorated arch carved out of marble. Just past the arch was a dark oak wood door with a large brass knocker.

Looking up I spotted several windows making each story of the mansion. At the top was a larger triangular shaped window with a dark thatched roof hanging over. The design of the whole building was breathtaking, never had I seen something so elegant. It matched Seth in a way. On the surface it was elegant and graceful, but it's dark colors told a much different story.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Seth took a step forward. "This is where I grew up," he said quietly. He took a deep breath as he reached down into that pocket I spotted with the knife in it. "I'm going to burn it down." I watched as from under his cloak the holster with his guns and batons dropped to the ground. This was it, it seemed almost surreal that we were going to see the final thread of Seth's former life loosen. He was going to see freedom from his deeds and Wyndmere.

Seth released the knife from it's confines. It was finally polished and shined just like the silver moon that hung above. Walking down the path, his footsteps were slow and keen not a single step was heard. reaching the marble arch, placing the knife between his teeth. I could only watch as our little brother climbed the arch reaching the top of it. Once a the top Seth found his balance and reached up to one of the windows with a small balcony where he could find some footing on. The youngest took the knife from his mouth and elbowed the window shattering it and lept inside.

I swallowed the lump in my throat realizing that this was going to be Seth's coming of age. He was going to show his father how much he had grown as both a master assassin and as a man. Despite how quiet he had started, the youngest wanted to make his presence known. I could feel myself practically holding my breath anticipating what was to come, there wasn't another sound heard since he had entered. I began to worry a little. Had he been killed? Was the deed already done? I needed to know what was going on.

I felt Dean nudge me with his shoulder eyeing the larger window that hung above. Without saying anything he was telling me to pay attention to what hung above us. I hadn't even thought about asking him if he had heard anything I was more focused on Seth's actions. Still remaining silent the Atlean grabbed a hold of the back of my cloak and gently began to tug trying to drag me away a short distance from the front. We both continued to stare up at the triangular window hearing faint sounds of shouting.

"Seth's hesitating," said Dean coldly. I looked down to see that his hand was balled up into a fist. The Atlean felt useless, he wanted to go up and help but Seth had asked us not to step in. I felt Dean tug at me again, trying to drag me in yet another direction. "They're headed for the courtyard," he said giving my cloak one last tug before disappearing around to the other side of the mansion. Before following I reached down and picked up the hollister Seth left behind.

I looked back up at the window one last time before following Dean. Gale's words still rung in my head: _"When all is said and done, make sure Seth destroys that red journal!"_

**~~~***~~~**

Quickly following Dean we made it around the building to another fenced off area. To my surprise the mansion was a lot bigger than I had given it credit for. The building wrapped around in a massive square around a garden with a marble statue of a woman in a toga in the middle, my guess it was probably the Holy Mother. The mansion was in two parts and connecting them was the black fence that matched the same as the outside.

The garden was organized and eloquent, with patches of flowers of varying dark colors lined up around the courtyard by color from lightest to darkest. Towards the southside was a large circular dirt mound in which Seth and another figure seemed to have carried their fight to.

It felt like a blink of an eye but both were gone. Both were masters of stealth, shadows of men hidden in complete darkness. Opportunistic killers who only needed a second to make the next step. I saw a flash of Seth's cloak followed by the shine of a throwing knife pinning it to the wall. Lastly, I saw the shape of what I could only make out to be our younger brother running off in another direction leaving the cloak behind, with his footsteps still unheard. I was baffled for a moment, before realizing that he was going to beat his old master on his own merit. He wasn't going to use the project. It made me think for a moment, was he capable of doing so.

I hitched my breath seeing two more glimmering knives thrown in our direction sticking into the wall. Quickly, did I see a black shadow move to take one of the knives and throw it back in the same direction. It was probably Seth once more launching his counter attack and dashing off into the darkness. The way they fought and moved amazed me. They moved with the shadows ever shifting around them, leaving me completely baffled. I looked over at Dean who looked impassive at the scene before him. There was no doubt he could see everything that was happening. Yet he made no sound and not even a flinch. Was it confidence he had in Seth? Or was he trying not to distract our younger brother and kept his concerns deep down?

My attentions were returned to the courtyard when I heard the sound of metal clashing. All I could make out was two small glimmers under the moonlit sky. Their knives were unsheathed signaling they were both ready to draw blood. One last chilling breeze flew over head moving the last puffy cloud blocking the moon's full shimmer. It's glow was a spotlight for them, showing the rest of Paragon that there was a fateful encounter happening in that moment in time. It set the stage for what would probably be the greatest assassination in all of Wyndmere.

Thanks to the moon's light, I was able to see everything that was happening. The man Seth was fighting was almost a mirror image. His face had a few more wrinkles to display his age, and his well pressed clothes and even polished dress shoes went to show just how much he held himself in high prestige. But the snarl he wore said that he was going to enjoy killing his own son. His own flesh and blood. I gritted my teeth, feeling like I needed tok step in and protect my little brother. I felt Dean's hand reach over and squeeze my forearm with his robotic arm. He was reassuring me as well as showing me to not be afraid. I'd only be stressing myself further trying to understand something I could never dream of.

Their blades clashed again above their heads this time. Seth aimed his leg to try and get a good thrusting kick to his father's gut, but it was quickly blocked by his enemy's shin. Both men stood there for a solid few seconds before beginning to lose their balance on their one legs planted on the ground. They had jumped back before running at one another again with their knives making contact in front of both their chests.

"Seth is gonna lose if he keeps this up," quipped Dean. On queue Seth's father managed to gain the upper hand and swung his knife upwards cutting him clean across the cheek. Blood slowly began to drip down our younger brother's face. "Seth's knee strikes are far quicker and more precise. That kick seemed way too uncoordinated. It was still fast, but it was like...he hadn't used such a strike in a while. Something is wrong Ro…" I watched again as the two came at one another this time his father gaining the upper hand. It was like he had read Seth's movements perfectly and saw his kick to the side coming. He gracefully dodged with with very little effort and began to bring his blade down on the younger assassin's shoulder. With little time to react, the knife ended up grazing Seth's shoulder beginning to stain his shirt a crimson color.

Dean was right, why was Seth fighting so sloppily? His life was on the line! Our younger brother whipped around quickly to dodge an axe kick, and flicked his blade with the intent of getting his father in the throat. The older assassin lifted his arm to let his bicep get cut instead and countered with a kick to Seth's shin. Seth was brought down to one knee and could only raise his weapon to block the next attack aimed for his head. With his shoulder wounded, Seth struggled to fight back against his father's blade. I stepped forward fearing for our younger brother's life. Once more I felt Dean's cold steel pull me back.

"If he dies here, it's because he's being an idiot." said Dean coldly. "That's not our little brother. That's a coward who's fighting right there. Perhaps he deserves to die." Was Dean serious right now? Did he truly think that? But there was some truth to what he was saying. It wasn't like Seth to fight so conservatively. Normally he had a very explosive offense with, raw emotions fueling his every movement. He needed to start channeling all that pent up anxiety. I felt my body move on its own, but I felt like Seth needed to be reminded of who he was. I gripped his holster clutched in my left hand, and hurled it over the fence towards the statue in the middle.

The momentary distraction caused Seth to catch an elbow to the jaw and nearly getting stabbed in the chest. On one hand Seth spring backwards creating distance between him and his opponent to catch his breath. The Count of Wyndmere brought his own knife up to his lips licking the blood off the side. He was mocking Seth...he knew that there was no way our little brother could defeat him with the way he was fighting. The man removed his black vest and unbuttoned the top of his dress shirt and and cuffs. Seth needed to change strategies if he were to win.

"Tyler. My dearest son. I molded you to be greatest assassin in all of Wyndmere-" started The Count before quickly being cut off by his son, whom also removed his shirt. Seeing the crimson liquid drip down was something else entirely. It was the first sign of just how vulnerable our younger brother truly was. Seeing his torso in full display I saw the many other scars that littered his body. I was sure each one told a story, and many about the man he was locked in combat with.

"You had me kill the king for your own pursuit of power! Everything you taught me, everything you set me to do...it was all in the journal. You just let history repeat itself and tried to set me down that same path. You had me really believing…" Seth hesitated to pick up his knife once more. "You really made me believe that our family was meant to make a difference…" the younger assassin raised his arm and pointed at Dean and I still on the other side of the fence. "But I realized, I never really had a family until I met them."

Tired of Seth's speech his father made his assault once more. Our younger brother raised his knife letting the two blades slide across one another. Finally launching some offense of his own, Seth dug his heel into the ground lifting his leg high above his head to finally land a blow on his father clean in the jaw. Although it was a lot more precise than his last attacks, it still wasn't backed by that fury I've come to known Seth for having. Although he was stunned, without a proper follow up the Count of Wyndmere was able to spin even quicker around to give Seth a very deadly cut down his face.

Dean and I flinched as our brother howled in pain holding his eye with his free hand. Not wanting to finish it so soon his father kicked his wrist sending Seth's blade a few feet away from him. The older man sneered and his face began to twist to that same killer look that we knew before. I swallowed the lump in my throat feeling that this was it. I felt like I needed to step in, but Seth would never forgive me if I did. If I saved Seth now, he'd forever carry the burden that he was never able to defeat his master, and for that I stayed planted.

We watched as Seth tried to make a desperation dive for his knife and ended up catching swift kick to the gut. The Count the grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the statue leaving our little brother rattled. "My dear Tyler...I taught you everything you know. I give you credit, you were able to catch me by surprised, I didn't even have a poisoned blade at the ready. But I see you've learned nothing in your time away, and since you know too much already...I'll end you." The Count reeled his blade back to deliver the finishing blow.

Seth braced himself for whatever was coming until his foot nudged something on the ground. He looked down to see his holster that I had tossed before. Swiftly, but barely did he manage to dodge the incoming blade as it caught his collar creating a deep wound. The younger Mereian cried out in pain again but didn't let it falter him. He instead grew that cocky grin that was normally signature to Dean's infectious attitude. I looked over to see now that our middle brother had same smirk planted on his face. Did something finally click into Seth?

The young assassin read the next attack coming and shifted his entire body for the next attack. With a loud cry he reeled his hand back and thrust his palm as hard as he could into his attacker's shoulder stunning him backwards. It was very rare that Seth relied on his arm strength for strikes as his legs were much stronger, but he knew them nonetheless as well as striking him with a technique he learned from the military. "You're right! You did teach everything about Tyler Black and his techniques!" Seth lifted one of his powerful legs to try and get a knee strike but it was quickly dodged, and ended up catching another kick into his back sending him back into the statue.

He stared at the statue as if he was looking for a blessing, and with the way his face twisted into a sneer he must have gotten it. "But you didn't teach Seth Rollins anything!" The Count of Wyndmere poised another strike when he was suddenly shocked that Seth had disappeared. He was going to use the project to his advantage finally. Seth suddenly reappeared for a second to watch him swing one of his batons into his father's jaw and disappearing in an instant. The next strike was in the same fashion with Seth reappearing for a split second to strike him in the gut with a knee.

Suddenly The Count was brought down with what I assumed was a low kick to his shins, as he did to Seth earlier. Just like our younger brother he raised his blade to block the next strike but not being able to see where his son was there's was no way he could predict where Seth's strike was going to come from. The blade was knocked from his hand and slid away landing right next to the younger assassin's knife. Slowly the older man raised his arm as his chin was being forcefully lifted. The next moment when Seth reappeared he stood there with that killer look with one baton at his side and the other right under the chin of his master. "I am no longer your puppet, we are nobody's puppets…" Seth stepped in twisting his body and raising his other baton, **"Especially not Paul Heyman's!"** he flicked his wrist and skillfully spun the baton to give one last final blow to The Count's temple.

It was over...the older assassin's body fell to the ground unconscious.

**~~~***~~~**

Dean looked at me using his head to point to the fence in front of us. I took a grip of the black fence's bars bending them enough to create a hole for Dean and I to fit through. We approached our younger brother slowly who was holding his shoulder, catching his breath, using the statue as something to lean on. It was amazing seeing his battle wounds in full display. He was in pain, but he was smiling. We looked up to see the start of the soft hues from the rising sun.

"If you don't get cleaned up soon, you'll pass out from blood loss." called a voice from the other side of the courtyard. On instinct Dean and I stood in front of our brother rifle and staff at the ready. The man stepped out of the shadows and my heart had skipped a beat for a moment. He looked similar to Desmond but his accent was too thick to be anything related to the Alliance. He too was bald and had a neat trimmed beard from his ears down to his jaw. He wore a gray dress shirt and a black vest that seemed to cling to him showing off some of the muscles he had underneath. This man was no ordinary butler, and was probably another assassin.

"Claudio...how long have you been there?" asked Seth, but before his line of questions could continue on queue our younger had begun to sway and he collapsed being quickly caught by Dean.

Claudio, I think Seth called him, signaled for us to follow him inside the house. I whipped around to also pick up The Count's unconscious corpse and haul it over my shoulder. "Who are you?" asked Dean as we walked through some dark wood doors and began to follow him through a series of hallways. The interior matched it's dark colored exterior. The floors were made of the same dark wood like the doors, with the walls decorated with a crimson colored wallpaper with black roses. Every corner we turned was also decorated with ebony colored wooden pillars holding the structure. Each pillar seemed to look chipped away or scratched at, like there was a struggle. Was it training or attackers?

The bald butler finally lead us up a flight of stairs and into the closest bedroom where Dean laid Seth. He quickly removed his cloak and pulled his backpack getting to work on getting Seth's wounds closed. I too lied The Count's body in the corner. "I am Claudio Castagnoli, I've served this house since I was a child. Your friend and I-"

"Brother." interrupted Dean briefly stopping to correct the butler.

"Your brother and I were practically raised together. I am an assassin as well, however only in the defense of this house." At least it was nice to know that my hunch was correct. However that left a lot of unexplained questions, if he was an assassin in defense of the house why didn't he stop Seth? "Interesting that Tyler-"

"Seth," Dean interrupted again. I finally walked over to slap the Atlean on the back of his head. I got an eye roll in return.

Claudio only chucked at our antics and continued, "Seth didn't aim for a killing blow, and yet...his strikes and movement were more precise than ever. He's grown quite a lot in the years he's been gone. He left Wyndmere a boy, and certainly came back a man. Now all there's left is to bring this man," he stopped to point at The Count of Wyndmere. "To justice."

Justice was our calling, but I feel like there had to be more. "Seth always believed himself to be the savior that Wyndmere needed, he'll be happy to know he succeeded. But you must leave here quickly, there's no doubt that Austin Aries' information has begun to spread like a wildfire. There's probably no doubt that both the Alliance and Leviathan are looking to make their moves on the Radiance Providence now that the people here know that the Eye of Taladen is out in the open." The butler sighed wiping the sweat collecting on his brow.

_When all is said and done, make sure Seth destroys that red journal._

There was Gale's words again ringing in my head, but it did bring curiosity. I felt that this might be the only time to ask. "Did The Count ever have dealings with a man named Gale Teegan?"

Claudio didn't seem to hesitate to answer. It was scary to hear that he was almost expecting these kinds of questions. The Count may had the jump on him, but this butler was much different. Just talking to the man made me fear him. He was way too well informed, to be an ordinary Merian."As Seth and I grew up, we'd used to be spy on his father's secret meeting with investors and other clients. He did meet with a Gale Teegan a lot, and a Kelic Ambrose. All three always seemed to be interested in the Eye of Taladen. He'd even show them the journal and try and shed light on any information he could give them. One of the meetings I spied on without Seth, Kelic spoke a lot about another man whom he claimed might have had a full exposure to the Eye itself…"

The butler hesitated, but only because he was trying to remember. I felt like I knew what he was going to say, I braced myself. Never in my life did I want to be wrong, but I knew that wasn't going to be the case. Everything was coming together and now suddenly, Seth had a place in this madness. Why the assassin from Wyndmere was lead to The Alliance. His father practically shoved him there as an offering to find the Eye of Taladen. Although, The Count only wanted power and control of the Radiance Providence...it was still a trap nonetheless set up by The Alliance. If the timelines lined up, Paul Heymen's term as Prime Minister would have been up by the time this had begun.

Claudio tapped his chin trying to recall the events from what seemed like so long ago now. "I always thought the stories of The Eye of Taladen were just stories for children, but as the world changes I feel like they maybe all truth. The way that scientist spoke he was both fascinated and baffled, I thought The Alliance scientists were supposed to know everything. Anyway, the subject this Ambrose spoke up was named AJ Styles."

Dean suddenly stopped everything he was doing, although Seth's wounds looked to be completely wrapped up. "Roman...this was the missing piece. Heyman let us live because he needed us to find the Eye of Taladen. He's not gonna finish the project, he's gonna get his muscle head a full exposure to the eye."

"It's Paragon's history…" said a faint voice from the bed. Seth had begun to stir but every wrong movement caused him to hiss in pain. He went back to holding his shoulder only to have his hand slapped away by Dean. "Every war begins with the Eye...and ends with the Eye. The seven provinces will continue to fight as long as the Eye exists."

We all sat there in silence absorbing what we had just learned. Mine, Seth's, and Dean's destinies seemed to have been intertwined at the get go. It made me think, just what was our purpose for being brought together like this?

I was quickly distracted by a buzzing from my phone before my thoughts could continue. I opened it up to see a message from an unknown number. I unlocked it to only see a picture. My eyes lit up seeing what lied before me and shifted quickly between Seth and Dean to show them both the picture. It was the end of a sniper rifle over a red cliff face that were normally outside the Northwest city of Orion. In the gorge between the two cliffs looked to be a small encampment occupied by Levithan soldiers, and more specifically there was the Prime Minister's limousine.

"What is it?" asked Seth.

"The viper is coiled." I simply responded. "Orton is alive...and more importantly he's found the Prime Minister."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes _Operation: Cerberus_. From even before Project: Taladen their destinies had always seemed to cross paths, and now their bond is stronger than ever. What did you guys think of this episode? Thanks for all your continued support as we head into the next episode. You're all wonderful people and I love you all!  <3
> 
> Next episode, _Operation: Phoenix_
> 
> They needed to rise above the rest and show Leviathan, The Alliance, and especially Paul Heyman they were ready for what ever Elysium wanted to throw at them. Standing more united than ever, The Shield is ready to take the fight to their enemies. No more hesitation, and no more holding back. However that only inspired more to rise up against all odds just like them for better and for worse.
> 
> _"They tried to turn us to ash, but like the Phoenix...it only made us stronger."_


End file.
